The Journey Home
by aneka1
Summary: Steve's plane crashes in China. How does he get out? Survival on the most basic level.
1. Default Chapter

  
  
Streaking through the clouds high above the Eastern portion of the People's Republic of China Steve and a Marine A3D pilot/wing commander, caught in the act of photographing a top secret installation, are being persued by a squadron of MIG 17's. Diving and spinning they have shot down several of the highly maneuverable planes but are still greatly outnumbered. 

"Well I guess if nothing else we at least proved that China's got the bomb." The pilot rationalizes. 

"Its going to be a moot point if we don't get out of here."Steve reminds. 

"Sir, how many of those do you suppose are nuclear?"The Marine ponders 

"I don't know. Most of them probably or none of them. Since Alamagordo things have been spinning out of control." 

"Huh?" 

"First we create the thing and bomb the Japanese. Then Ethel & Julius give it to the Russians. Now the Chinese and the Koreans. We can't prove India has it. Israel refuses to acknowledge one way or the other. Ike put a bunch of them in Turkey. There's talk of burying a hundred or so in Saudi. Europe's littered with warheads......"A MIG passes underneath them startling the the usually controlled pilot."Don't get me wrong." Steve continues after the plane is out of range. "I believe in being prepared but now that the genie's out of the bottle..I just wonder where we're heading." 

Pulling back against 6Gs Captain Warren Xavier Smith shouts "Never mind the politics Sir! Where the hell are we?" 

Steve looks down at his map. "'bout 300 miles from shore." 

The pilots eyes widen with fear as looks over at him. "We're in deep shit!!" 

A missile flies past them as he jinks down left. Steve turns around to see a MIG behind them "Smitty! 6 o'clock high!! Fantan! He's coming straight at us!!!!" 

Captain Smith pulls the plane up vertical as Steve shouts "Get us out of here!!"  
  
A volley of bullets shatters their canopy.Steve looks down at the pile of 'impact resistant' glass in his lap as the wind sucks papers off the seat next to him. _This is not looking so good_

"Cannons! They got the tail rudder!Commander......!" 

"Can we still fly??" Steve asks quietly _I've got concert tickets for this weekend. Kathy's going to kill me if I'm late again.Now there's a stupid thought. The Chinese are going to kill you right now and you won't be able to BS your way out of that_

"Yeah but it'll be a rough ride!" 

"Forget fighting we'll never out maneuver them.....run for the ocean!" McGarrett commands 

"I'll try Sir but we gotta dodge the missiles and we burned alot of feul down in the mountains. Maybe we should just land. They can't klll us it's against the Geneva Convention" 

A cold chill runs up Steve's spine. He reaches over and grabs the collar of the pilots jacket briefly and glares at him. "THAT'S NOT AN OPTION!! Do you understand?! You keep this bird in the air!" 

The plane rattles and bucks as he pulls back on the controls "Are you ordering me Commander?!"The paniced pilot challenges."This is MY aircraft." 

"You better believe it! I'm in charge of this mission Captain."_and its hitting the fan fast..._

"Sir the Geneva Convention says......" Smith continues to insist. 

Steve knocks the pieces of glass onto the floor "Now thats a laugh" He snaps at him through clenched teeth. " When did you sign up?" 

"Class of '53. Commander I know what I'm doing." He dives the plane away from another missile. 

Steve leans back in the seat his eyes still darting about the sky and exhales deeply. _This can't be happening again_ "I don't doubt that you know how to fly." He states finally. "You asked who Roger was this morning." 

"The guy who saw us off? He said you were roommates once." 

"And do you care to venture a guess where?"Steve challenges 

"Academy I presume" Is the quick reply 

Steve points to the ground. "Right down there. About the time you were packing for Senior Med Cruise Roger and I were in Lang Bak. I'm here to tell you the Geneva Convention doesn't mean squat to these people." _They never even signed the agreement anyway. Check your facts Captain!_

A missile clips off the left wing tip and spins the plane 

"Sir. We're goin'in !!!" 

_I'll never make it as a POW again. Heck I can barely stand to be in an office all day. Being stuck in an elevator makes me break out in a cold sweat..This jock has no idea what we are in for_

"PULL UP!!!"Steve yells in desperation 

" I can't we only got one wing left!! Where are we???!!!" 

Steve swallows hard and forces himself to concentrate on the map." 80 miles from shore..maybe less.We can walk that far. Punch us out!" Fear begins to overtake reason as a myrid of disjointed images from Lang Bak Prison flash through his mind. _This can't be happening to me again. Not now._

Another missile passes closely by the the right side of the plane shearing off the remaining wing 

_Was I pedestined to die behind the lines?_

"We're too low. We eject and the chutes won't open in time" the pilot shrieks. 

"Terriffic! Now what??.._Damn I'm out of options_ Steve swallows hard at the image of Sargeant Major Peters yelling at him during his youngster year survival training program  
  
' Kiddies there are 4 P's to live by Planning Prevents Poor Perfrmance.But remember this always It's the 5th P that'll get you killed--PANIC' 

Resuming his regular breathing pattern Steve smiles slightly to himself _And I always hated the sob_" The reserve chutes..we pull them ourselves. Punch us out" 

"Sir. The plane'll come down on top of us." 

"Can't you bank it away?" He yells exasperatedly at the pilot. _You idiot! Its an acceptable risk. And a heck of alot better than Peking duck every night._ " WE'RE RUNNING OUT OF OPTIONS HERE!!" _I can't die here. I've got too much stuff to do. Mom Dad I'd like to see you again but not like this. Not now. Mom I'm thinking about getting married. You've got my brother Jim with you let me stay here. There's got to be a way out of this"_

"Worth a try..."The Marine states resignedly and pulls the ejection lever. There is a sharp pop as the remaining canopy blows off but the two men remain inside the spiraling aircraft. 

"WE"RE GOIN'IN!!!" 

Steve glances at the map and grabs the radio. "Purple Dragon Rider.Tango Victor Zulu.73 Golf 129 Echo 2...9 Alpha Papa Sierra November Juliet" _Hail Mary full of Gace. We're about to squish all over the place. I'm about to die and all I remember is a paratrooper chant. Lord, I hope you've got a sense of humor'_ "Pater noster qui es in caelis: Sanctificetur nomen tuum: Adveniat regnum tuum........." 

The plane spirals down out of control and crashes into a rocky field plowing a deep trench in the soft earth. Steve is thrown out of the jet and lands on top of a large rock and slides down to the ground. 

An hour later he wakes up face down in the dirt. lifting his his head slightly he looks up trying to focus. The bones of his right forearm are protruding through his jacket sleeve. 

"Oh God!"He croaks as his conciousness slides back down a spinning black tunnel. After several unsuccessful attempts he manages to wake up long enough to roll onto his left side his right arm hanging down and behind him. The movement causes him to vomit and faint onto his back. Several minutes later he awakens and scoots himself up against the rock closing his eyes in an attempt to shut out the spinning world. Reaching inside his shirt he pulls out his dogtags _... another set of teethmarks......._ and cringes at the memory of the North Korean wilderness... _There's no Roger this time...you've got to do it...._ Sticking the tag between his front teeth he then unzips his leather jacket part way; screaming, he reaches over and grabs his right arm and shoves it inside the coat._..worked for Napoleon.._ Spitting out the metal he half grins at the image of the smiling Marine in the cargohold of the Excalibur "Thanks Bates." Breathing heavily he leans back against the rock and tries to focus. "OK Sarge: I'm still alive." He states resignedly to the image of his former instructor. "How do I get us out of this??................" Coming to again as the sun is beginning to set he attempts unsuccessfully to stand up. Closing his eyes he grabs ahold of a piece of the plane and pulls himself up against it.The tactile shock of laying against the cold metal revives him to full awareness. Reaching into the cockpit he feels the side of the pilots neck for a pulse and finds none."Damn it...." Fear knots up in his stomach as he begins to sweat and shake at the thought of being captured._At least in Korea...I wasn't alone_ He leans his head down slightly and becoming dizzy again quickly regrabs the plane before his knees buckle. After smashing the few remaining intact instruments he takes the pilots gun and extra clip and shoves them into the leg pocket of his fatigue pants. From behind the seat he grabs the survival bags and tosses them on the ground. Feeling around in the seat he finds his camera and film bag. He fumbles with the camera trying to rewind the last roll of film. Finally he just pulls out the film and shoves it inside his jacket along with the rest of the used film. In what's left of the tail he finds an automatic rifle. Letting go of the plane he staggers a few steps diorientedly and collapses onto the frozen mud. An image of an office at Kimpo Airbase 1951 and a conversation between Admiral Fitz and a Korean colonel pops into his mind 'Colonel I tell you he's the best behind the lines man the Navy ever trained' Laughing at the irony of the memory he falls over sideways in the dirt coughing uncontrollably. "Right Sir. Only 29 miles from the ocean and I can't get 10 feet" 

_Assess the situation!. The UDTs are probably being briefed now. They've got coordinates from your transmission. Its the same scenario Commander- just you're on the opposite end this time. First things first. Weapons.You know you always did take way too much stuff on a mission_

"Yeah Sarge. Well I always got back didn't I" He snaps then exhales resignedly "till now...Three clips plus mine" He picks up the pistol and turns it over._ Oh hell I'm not going to change clips quick eough in this shape. Might as well say 7 rounds. That's not enough to survive Hotel Street_ Setting the pistol down his eyes close involuntarily as he begins to float out of conciousness.   
  
Subconciously he drifts into a dreamlike state in which he is diving in Hanauma Bay swimming with yellowjack tuna and blue angelfish. Coming out of the ocean he drops his tank on the beach and falls gently into the warm sand. A beautiful long brown haired woman sits down next to him and loooks curiously at him with her soft turquoise eyes 'what is all this stuff?' She ventures.  
"Uh...." Taken aback by her intense gaze he stammers "Hi . Its.. well its called scuba....."  
"Scuba??? She giggles.   
"Yes. Self contained underwater breathing apparatus S C U B A. The Navy just developed it a couple of years ago."  
"Navy. You're from the base then." She surmises   
"Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett. Nice to meet you......."   
"Kathy Kieley .."She introduces grabbing his extended hand and pulling him back down in the sand.  
  
Startled awake by the approach of a squad of Chinese infantrymen he carefully crawls behind the rock forcing the memory partially out of his mind. Hoping to gain the upper hand by a suprise attack he fires the automatic rifle in a sweep pattern hitting each one as they fanned out in a row looking for cover. Standing up against the rock he slowly checks each one. A young soldier's hand grips in a death spasam causing the rifle to discharge hitting the American in the lower back. Steve falls backwards into the dirt as a second squad approaches from the opposite direction. He turns over and fires blindly till the rifle is empty. He pulls the pilots pistol out of his pocket and rolls over next to the plane and empties the magazine into them.Throwing it aside he pulls his own .45 out of its holster and finishes them off. The Chinese sargeant and Steve are at a standoff when suddenly from the nearby tree line a shot rings out and the sargeant is killed. Steve dives behind the plane and breathing in irratic spasams from the exhertion collapses into the trench. _How many more of them are there!_ "What difference does it make anyway ...." 

_'Commander!'_ The voice of Sgt Mjr Peters orders_ You don't have time to feel sorry for yourself right now. There's more on the way. PRIORITIES: There's at least a dozen weapons. Get ahold of them. Next keep yourslf from bleeding to death. Nothing worse to a Marine than rescuing a corpse. You're not that bad off...well you are but you Irish are too fatalistic for me to tell you everything. You've been doing fine as long as you keep your eyes closed. West is the direction of the sunset. Go the other way. You don't have to see where you're going as long as you head East.You were one hell of a rebel but one of the best midshipmen I ever drilled. Don't disappoint me now._

"Aye aye Sir" He replies halfheartedly. Standing up against the plane he looks around quickly then closes his eyes and staggers several feet towards the trees and returns. "Hey! I just might survive this!" With renewed energy he gathers the Chinese weapons into a pile. Finding them to be revolvers he happily dumps the bullets into his pocket loads one of them and throws the others aside. Changing his mind he gets one of them back out of the discard pile and loads it too. "Yeah I know. I take too much stuff. Up yours Sarge." Setting one of the rifles next to the survival gear. He opens one of the packs checks the contents and puts most of it into the other bag along with he extra rifle clips. He smiles to himself _'Best behind the lines man the Navy ever trained'_ and leans back against the rock closing his eyes briefly. 

It is almost night and Steve is still laying against the rock with his 45 in his left hand and one bullet,he thinks, left in the clip. A Chinese soldier approaches and shakes him gently awake. "BACK OFF!" Steve yells pointing the gun at him. "Or I swear I'll kill you right here." 

The Chinese man sits down next to him "NO! You do not understand. I am Dak San Hee Air Pilot First Class" He slowly takes out a small revolver from his pocket and throws it on the other side of Steve "I surrender to you" He smiles broadly at the American. 

Turning his head slightly he grabs the ground and after several minutes of abdominal spasms Steve faintly whispers. "What...." 

Yes. I want to go America. Come get in truck" He points wildly to a nearby jeep. 

"How did...." McGarrett wonders 

"I am in trees most of time watching. I was boy near here. Know where plane have to crash better than stupid Peking army. I break my plane so I have to be on ground. Captain not look I steal truck and come here. Don't worry. I fix plane fast. Put an wire back. Captains in China Air Army no smart." 

_What if its a trick_ Glaring at the asian he points the pistol at the mans head. "No Thanks I'll wait here." 

"You wait here Yankee. Army get you." Dak reminds as Steve struggles to keep the gun level. 

"And just what do you get for delivering me to Mao?" Steve snaps. 

"Trust me." The asian grins widely. 

"Trust you!" Steve tries to laugh and the pain of another rib breaking causes him to drop the gun. 

Seeing an opportunity the Chinese man quickly retrieves it. Removing the empty clip he chuckles slightly and tosses it aside. Pinning Steve to the rock with one hand he feels around until he finds the extra clips in his pants pocket. Grabbing one of them he quickly reloads the gun and slides the first round into the chamber. At the sound of the click Steve's eyes fly open trying to locate the pilot through his swirling kalidoscopic vision. _He's going to kill me with my own gun. Son of a ..._ The slight impact of the gun landing on his legs startles him but he quickly grabs the pistol. 

"OK Yankee." Dak grins. "You have more chance to kill me now. Master teaches me saying 'Every man have to trust sometime.' Your time friend. No time for think now! Soldiers are coming more. Look for you. I fly planes. Want to go for large time but I think not safe. My father killed by communists. Brothers run to Hong Kong they dead too. Mother and sisters all raped and killed. With you America has to let me in!" He grins broadly and points to the jeep. "Hurry" 

Steve starts to stand up and his knees give out. "I'm not going anywhere quickly..." Dak drags him over to the jeep and shoves him under a tarp in the back. He picks up the backpacks, guns and Steve's cracked helmet and throws them in with him. "You need for later" Dak San drives wildly without headlights towards a nearby airbase. At the sound of a distant engine he turns abruptly off the road into the forrest.The irratic movements of the jeep and jostling over the uneven surface causes Steve to scream in agony. Stopping behind a row of pinetrees the Chinese man lifts up the tarp "Quiet. Soldiers I hear. You understand?" Holding his right arm across his chest, tears and sweat running down his face Steve nods. 

An hour later they exit the treeline and drive cautiously to an isolated hut. Dak goes into the hut and comes out quickly. Going to the back of the jeep he lifts the tarp up finding his hostage barely concious. "40 miles to plane."_He be of no use to me in this condition_ He tilts Steves head back and dumps a white powder under his tongue "You never make it like this. Old uncle grows opium-same thing as your morphine. Should be better soon." 

Arriving at the airbase via an unguarded oxen trail Dak parks the jeep behind a hanger and looks inside the desserted building housing his plane.Satisfied that no one is around he returns to the jeep grabs the gear and carries Steve over to the plane and buckles him into the co-pilots seat of a new MIG 21 and puts the helmet back on him and toses the backpack on the floor. Climbing a ladder he opens an access panel in the nose of the plane and reattaches a couple of wires and screws the panel closed again. Walking out the door he spots a pair of soldiers coming towards the hanger. Quickly he sits on the ground and lights a cigarette pretending to be relaxing."Greetings Commrades." He smiles." How is it going?" 

"We are are being sent to the search for the Americians. How is it that you are here doing nothing?" The sargeant asks. 

"Nothing! Commrades I have been trying to fix this plane all day. Peking gives me nothing but useless junk." 

"We could help you?"The young private volunteers. 

"No. You would have to explain your absence. Better to join the search. I will get this bird up eventually." Once the soldiers are a safe distance away he starts up an aging rough idling semi tractor and attaches the end of a log chain mounted on the front bumper to the tow point on the front of the jet. He then pulls the plane out onto the runway and looks around again. Seeing noone he spools up the jets engines and parks the truck a short distance away and climbs into the plane. Seeing three jeeps approach the runway he skips the preflight check and hurridly takes off into the night sky. 

The sudden vertical movement causes Steve to throw up again. Dak San reaches over and gently shakes him "It OK we in air now " 

Steve smiles broadly_'I'm going to make it!'_""There's an airbase in Seoul" 

"No! Koreans do what China say! We are better over water. Japan. America tells what to do now" 

"OK fine with me...."He replies halfheartedly. _3 hour flight from Kimpo to Tokyo..I hope I can make it that much longer..._

A squadron of Chinese fighters chase them as Dak eveades and fires back at them. Steve passes out from the rapid movements 

Secure of his escape after splashing the last MIG19 Dak turns his attention towards his passenger smiling he shakes him slightly. "Hey! You dead?" 

Steve opens one eye "No...unfortunately....please...keep the plane straight..." 

"I know." He replies sympathetically. "But we had to get free. I got them all. We fly straight now. What radio station Japan?" 

"151.95...emergency channel..." 

Dak reaches over and sets the radio."For later. You talk to them. Yankee Doodle." 

Steve fades in and out of conciousness as they fly south towards Japan."Dak ...?" He asks weakly. 

"yes?"He answers,glad for another brief period of companionship to distract him from the sad thought that this is the last time he will ever fly a plane. 

"How did....your English is pretty good....." 

The pilot reaches over and gently taps the logo on Steves helmet. "Mickey Mouse" 

Steve looks at him questioningly "What?....Oh. My names Steve McGarrett. They call me Mickey sometimes....why are..you doing this...?" 

"My father work for US army in China. They kill him for it. When I small boy they learn English in school. Americian GIs nice to me. I keep book and learn at night. America free. I want to be free too." 

As they approach the edge of Tokyo's radar screen Dak shakes him awake. Steve looks up into the rising sun and screams from the sunrise blinding his hypersensitive optic nerves. Finally figuring out what is wrong Dak leans the plane reaches across and pushes down whats left of the visor on his helmet."Better?" He asks when the screaming ceases. "Time to call America" He instructs and hands him the radio mike.It takes several minutes for Steve to comprehend what the pilot wants. Carefully composing what to say he finally presses the button. "Tokyo control...this is...Oh God we don't.....I'm Lieutenant Commander Steven J McGarrett 356..31..4992...NIS..Pearl.....Purple.... Dragon....uh.......oh yeah....Purple Dragon Rider ......Tango Victor Zulu....Sierra....November....uh......Juliet. Turn the Recons around....Bravo..Romeo......uh.Papa.. You are about to pick up a blip on radar. Don't shoot us down" 

Promptly the radio cracks in response "Commander this is Tokyo. What's going on? Please verify. We show one Chinese MIG inbound. Over" 

"That's us. It's a ....long..story I hope...to be able to...to explain it all...The pilot is a defector..he'll do whatever..." 

Passing through a dense cloud the plane buffets on the turbulent air causing Steve to pass out briefly from the motion. The sharp static of the antiquated radio brings him back. "Commander. Tokyo. What's going on?...Verify...Are you allright sir?" 

Swallowing against another wave of nausea he responds faintly. "No...but....you have an engineer there..Lieutenant Frank Evershall....get him...he'll..." 

"Rodger Commander stand by." 

Dak grabs him by the arm "What wrong? They not let I land?" 

Steve leans back in the seat willing himself to stay awake. "Relax...they have to be sure...its not a trap. I don't think.....I'm not going to be able to talk much longer....just do what ever they tell you to...OK. Don't make...any...threatening movements...just fly straight......probably a squadron has been sent to look us over....do what they tell you" 

Looking over at the ashen color of his passenger Dak becomes highly concerned that his insurance policy may not make it and tries to encourage him "Steve! Not quit now. We almost there. Fly not an hour more...I go faster!" 

Steve grabs him. "No! They'll think its a threat. Don't be stupid!!"  
  
At the air base a security jeep pulls up beside an aircraft maintainence hanger. Two SP's quickmarch through the cavernous building oblivious to the airframes parked inside in various states of disassembly. At the far end of the building they enter the Lts tiny office and salute "Lt Evershall Sir" 

Absorbed in his calculations Frank glances up briefly. "Yes?" 

"Sir. Do you know a Commander McGarrett?" The taller sailor asks standing at parade rest. 

"Steve. Sure. Why? He's not here is he???"_What kind of prank is McGarrett pulling on me?_

"Well sort of sir."A burly thick necked Seaman 1 responds as he looks at the group of pictures on the wall next to Franks commission. _I wonder if this guys in one of these_

He puts down his slide rule and looks up concernedly. "What's going on?" Frank asks with a sudden sense of foreboding. 

"The tower sent us over Sir. There's a bogey inbound says that's who he is. They want you to verify. Come with us Sir" 

Halfway out the door Frank abruptly turns and grabs his hat off the top of a filing cabinet nearly knocking over a sailing trophy. 

The five minute drive to the air traffic control building seems to take an eternity as wild scenes pass through Lt Evershall's mind. As the jeep comes to a halt he leaps out of the back and runs down the long corridor towards the elevator nearly knocking a clerk down. Rushing out of the car he stops abruptly upon seeing the crowd of people surrounding the radar screen _Oh God! This is no joke. Steve couldn't have arranged all of this..._ He introduces himself to the young petty officer 1 air controller who is watching the sweeping radar screen. 

An ensign asks. "Who is this guy sir?" 

"He's my best friend. We went to the academy together. What's going on here?" He looks at the serious expressions on the faces of the crowd and begins to panic "Steve's allright isn't he?" 

"He doesn't sound too good sir. Keeps fading in and out" The petty officer informs, momentarly looking away from the approaching blip. 

Intent only on finding out what has happened to his friend Frank elbows his way to the control panel and grabs the radio. "Steve. What the hells going on!?" 

Dak shakes him again. Steve moans quietly 

"McGarrett! What's happening??" 

Steve blinks a couple of times as Dak shakes him.The sound of a familiar voice slowly filters down into his diminished conciousness. Finally in frustration the defector reaches over and hits him hard on the right shoulder causing him to scream loudly. 

"Hey buddy. Steve! You OK??" The radio cracks through the static. Steve carefully glances over in the general direction of Dak who is pointing to the radio "They call you." "STEVE!" Frank screams 

He picks up the radio "hey...Frankie....." 

Evershall sits down in the chair "Oh God! That's Steve. Or what's left of him. Is this some kind of classified thing?" 

The petty officer shrugs and sits on the desk next to him "Got me sir. What's his MOS?" 

Intelligence. He's supposed to be at Pearl. How long till they get here?" 

They're about 30 minutes out. 

The radio next to him cracks "Tokyo. Bravo 2 leader. I got him. Its a MIG all right looks like one of those new Soviet Farmers, wing bumps and all but aren't they only 1 seaters??" 

The commander grabs the microphone away from Frank."It is but there is a trainer model. The Chinese build that. Same as the MIG19 only they call it Fantan." 

"Bravo 2 again. The nose is wrong. This one's pointed..like a crayon." 

"Holy!" The commander exclaims. "That's one of the new 21's! Treat it gently no ones seen one of those up close before. I want that plane intact. Don't do anything to spoof the pilot.. Whats going on up there Bravo 2" 

"The pilots definately Chinese. Keeps waving at me. So far he hasn't done anything." 

Frank looks up hopefully. "What about Steve?" 

"Bravo 2. What about the other guy?" 

"Can't tell Tokyo. His head's down. There's a patch on his jacket I can see part of. Looks like a sword coming out of something. Mountain maybe. I'm not sure. Sir I buzzed the side of the plane he didn't even flinch. Must be way gone." 

"Roger Bravo 2. Can you get the plane upside down?" 

A seaman enters with a telex and hands it to the officer in charge "We got it! Pearl says its an authentic code. But superceded last month. Say they'll stand by the Marines on the Vincent. They want to know how sure we are that its him. You're supposed to ask for an 'authenticator number' for Bravo Mike Kilo" 

The commander grabs the piece of paper. "This is a bunch of crap! We aren't even getting full sentences out of this guy. He probably doesn't remember the new code let alone a number. You made them aware of what's going on Atkins?" 

The seaman snaps to attention "Yes Sir. Very clearly Sir."  
  
"Tokyo, Bravo 2. Not a good idea down there guys. The chink flipped the plane and your passenger just threw up on the glass. Still can't tell anything but he's at least a foot taller than the chinaman. It's definately a sword and a rock. He's wearing a Surface Warfare Officer badge and a pair of jump wings." 

"Lieutenant how sure are you this isn't a fake?"The commander questions. 

"Its Steve Sir." He responds emphatically. "Unfortunately." 

"OK. Just ask him one question. And the shape he's in Lieutenant." The watch officer shakes his head in concern. "You better make it a simple one." 

"What do you want to know Sir." Frank asks sarcastically." Who won the Army Navy game?" 

Taken aback by the insubordination he starts to say something then realizing it only as stress over his friend replies calmy. "No the Ruskies know that question. Something personal. Uh..Its only January, where was he Christmas maybe. You know the answer to that? 

"He was with me." Frank replies distantly. trying to shove the memories out of his mind 

"Good ask him that" The older man states with obvious feeling 

"Steve? You still with us? Where were we Christmas?" 

"............Sebastiani......." is the faint reply barely audible over ther static. 

"Close enough." Frank encourages. "Good job. Just hang on OK." 

"Where's Sebastiani??" The Commander replies questioningly thinking that he knew where every base was. 

"It isn't a place. We were in Spain. Sebastiani was a girl he met. That enough?" 

"Figures.." The balding slightly overweight watch officer shakes his head."libido's one of the last things to go" 

Frank relaxes for a brief instant "In his case yeah" 

Keep him talking Lieutenant." Standing behind him the Commander pats Frank's shoulders. "That's his best chance." 

"Yeah. Sure. You're right." Evershall replies resolutely and sitting up in the chair he picks up the microphone again. "Steve? You hear me?" 

After a long silence there is a very weak "yeah..." 

"OK." Franks grins with relief." Listen to me buddy. What the hell happened to you?" 

"I..." 

Steve! You gotta keep awake OK. What's happened?" 

Concerned that he will be refused asylum Dak grabs the radio."He OK I think.." 

Frank jumps out of his seat."Who are you?" He snaps. "Never mind. What's happened to him?" 

"His plane crash. I not doctor. There's lots of blood. If he moves he's sick. I know he broke an arm. Chest too and I think his head. Big hole in his helmet" 

Frank leans forward with his elbows on the counter and his head down "Oh God." Quietly he picks up the radio and whispers Steve?" 

"I think." The pilot replies reassuringly. "You say something. He moves but not wake up" 

The usually bustling control room is eerily quiet despite the growing tension as the crowd hovers expectantly around Lt. Evershall. The stillness is broken only by the metronomic blip of the approaching plane on the radar screen.Frank lays his head on the contol panel.A seaman 1 clerk puts his hand on Franks back and states sympatheticly "20 minutes sir. Keep talking to him. All we can do" 

"Steve?" He asks hopefully. "OK buddy if you can't talk thats fine you don't have to" 

Steve whispers quietly "I'm Ok Paul....." 

The controller reaches for Franks arm as he bats him away "Who's Paul?"The officer asks 

"Steve you listen to me right now!" Evershall orders. "You just concentrate on getting your butt down here!" 

".....Frank...." 

"Yeah Steve. I'm right here. You allright?" 

He starts gagging "Yeah. Pauls here....." Then in a childlike voice he asks "where are we going?" 

"Steve you listen to me. Stop that right now! I don't care how much it hurts. Open your eyes right now!!!! Do you hear me?!" He screams into the microphone. 

"I...can't...." 

Usually very stoic by nature Frank buries his head in his hands for a couple of minutes then wiping his forearm across his eyes and sniffing deeply he swallows back a lump he pleads insistantly. "You gotta do it. OK. For me. Just do it." 

The controller leans forwards in concern and asks "What's happening? Who's Paul?" 

Evershall leans back in the chair and wipes his eyes again. "Paul Compton. He's...he was our friend. He died in Korea." There is a collective gasp as the room realizes what's going on. "Steve listen to me. Just me OK." He insists. "Paul's not here. He died 5 years ago" 

"....Frank...?...." Steve whispers in confusion. "Why are we out here?.....Its way past taps. I know how to punt now......." 

"Oh God!" Frank utters involuntarily. "Steve where do you think we are?" 

After a long hesitation "Farragut Field" is the faint reply. "Dragonbreaths on his way.....Paul says....." 

"Steve!" Frank yells in a panic then forces himself to calm down. "Think about this. Paul is dead. Lt Hamilton is dead. There's only you and me here and we're still very much alive." Frank exhales deeply and leans back in the chair at the implication of his statement."Do you hear me?!!!!! MCGARRETT!!!!!" Scooting the chair back away from the console Evershall leans over forwards with his head down and hands hanging betwen his knees trying to calm down. "10 minutes more buddy." He reassures "We've got a doctor right here. You just keep breathing OK. Can you do that? STEVE!" 

"He Ok" The defector reassures. 

" I don't know who you are but you just get him the hell down here NOW!" Frank retorts. 

"Whats he talking about??" Commander Allen asks. "Football??" 

"Yeah" Frank sighs. "He and Paul were part of the Elite Fleet" 

Trying to take Franks mind off the situation the commander encourages him to continue the reminesience. 

"Steve was second quarterback on the varsity team plebe year. Paul barely made it each season. But that wasn't for lack of Steve's trying. He used to run crazy patterns and make Paul tackle him until you couldn't see either of them for the mud. Steve was always on the away bus. Senior year. Paul got to go with him one time to North Carolina..no Florida I think. I've never seen two guys more happy.."  
  
Sensing that he was intruding on the conversation Seaman Atkins snaps to attention and tentatively speaks up. "Sirs? I've been thinking about this sword thing. I think I know maybe what it is." 

A helicopter pilot visiting the tower turns towards him abruptly and commands. "For the love of God speak up. Officers don't have all the answers." 

"My high school lit class." He replies hesitantly "King Arthur and the Round Table. Merlin the Wizard locked a magic sword in a rock. It was called Excalibur. Only Arthur could pull it out." 

Frank spins around in his chair. "USS Excalibur! That was Steve's ship!!" 

A grayhaired master chief exclaims "The one that was sunk! Started the whole Korean mess?? 

"They didn't sink!" Frank snips defensively at the older man. "Steve's sensitive about that." 

"Sir I was here back in '50 when that wreck backed into port. Half of it was under water and it was listing so far we were half afraid to board her. If this guys the same officer who reversed her across the China Sea under fire then he did a hell of a job but Lieutenant take it from me. They sunk!" 

Several anxious minutes pass with the crowd staring mutely at the screen until an ensign points excitedly towards the glass. Heartened by the sight of the distant aircrafts Frank grabs the radio and yells excitedly "Steve. I can see you out the window. Hang on. You hear me?" 

"He still OK." Dak reassures then quickly checks his passenger for a pulse. "I go to land now. HELLO AMERICA!!" 

Frank grabs the commander by his shirt collars "I don't give a damn what kind of security policy you got. Do what ever you want with the pilot I don't give a damn. Just let him land long enough to get Steve back" 

The controller pulls Frank off the commander and restrains him in an arm lock until the commander orders him to release his hold. Grabbing Franks shoulders loosely he replies gently. "Relax. Its over. Go get your friend." 

"Relax! Like hell!" Pushing the senior officer aside Frank runs out of the building knocks the 2 SP's away from the jeep and speeds to the runway as the Chinese MIG lands. He chases along side it on the tarmac. An ambulance and and service truck approach from the other direction. 

The plane comes to a stop as the canopy pops up. Dak San leaps out of the plane "I'M FREE!! HELLO AMERICA!!!" He throws his helmet and jacket on the ground and rips the insignia off his flight suit. Two sailors climb up the ladder and pull Steve out of the plane. He screams quietly as they tug on his arms to get him out of the seat. Running towards the hot jet Frank looks up just as Steve's helmet falls off and bounces on the asphalt. and stops in his tracks "Oh my God!" As they carry him to the ambulance Frank has ahold of Steve's jacket. Opening one eye slightly Steve grabs at Franks sleeve " ..you win..Frank". Dak approaches them. "He OK? I come with you." Climbing in the ambulance Frank mumbles "Yeah sure whatever"   



	2. Chapter 2

Eight hours later Frank is pacing the waiting room when a short gray haired doctor enters. He heads towards Frank and putting his extended arm on Franks shoulder he lays his head on his arm for several minutes. Finally he says quitely "I've done everything I can" 

Frank looks down at the physican and swallows hard "He's...gone???" 

"No! For now.. anyway... he's still with us. I took 3 bullets out of his right kidney area and 2 out of his shoulder. His rght arms broken in 5 places including an open fracture of the forearm.There are several broken ribs and a punctured lung. His skull is cracked in 3 places. There're multiple bruises..." 

Feeling his knees starting to collapse Frank sits down on the couch and leans over forwards with his arms between his legs. There is a soft clink as the ring Frank was playing with bounces on the gray institutional tiles. Reaching down Doctor Saprestien picks it up and examines the engraving before giving it back to the worried Lieutenant. "Sorry we had to cut that off. Its a nice ring." Putting it back in his pocket Frank half smiles."Lifetime guarantee they told us." Swallowing hard he looks over at the physican sitting on the chair across from him. "Is Steve...going to get to collect on it?" 

"I honestly don't know. What ever happens its up to him. We've done what we can." 

What can...are you doing... 

Exhausted from the OR session Dr Sapriestein leans back and stretches "You name it we're trying it.To be honest with you I don't know what to do next" 

Frank stares at him incredously "But you're a doctor..." 

"That doesn't make me omnipotent. We're talking leading edge medicine here. Trauma this severe..I just don't...We're taking it as it goes. Massive antibiotics for the open wounds. His entire ribcage is cracked its just a matter of time and movement before the rest break. I've got a tube in his chest to try and reexpand the one lung. He's on 8 liters of O2 and so far he's breathing easy enough that we don't have to put him on a ventilator..but that may change. Dr Capelli did the bone work. 9 screws and a couple of plates I think. Once the wounds cleaned up we can set his forearm. I'm monitoring his renal function..seems Ok at this point. His heart stopped twice in OR" 

Frank looks up in horror. "WHAT!" 

"Relax. Its quite common. But I did have to shock him back several times...IV epinephrine and cardioversion finally did the trick....Vasopressors to try and boost his blood pressure" Dr Saprestien describes trying to organize the sequence of events in his own fatigued mind. 

"What is it?"Frank asks trying to process all the unfamiliar but important souunding information. 

"His BP? 50/30 now. Normal's about 120/70." The MD adds hastily at the Lts confused expression. "When he got here he didn't have any.Fluid volume replacement is a major concern and that'll bring up his pressure too. We're keeping his head elevated and watching intercrainial pressure. Which is high normal so far. Fortunately none of the skull fractures were depressed. Theres no blood in his spinal fluid. He'll be out for awhile but I'm anticipating there won't be a subdural hematoma...at least not a clot big enough to worry about. Most of this is so new its not even in the texts yet. The rest..to be blunt we're inventing. If he makes it Dr Hadrian and I are going to write a paper for the AMA." Flexing his cramping fingers Saprestien remembers a half observation that had come to him several hours before. "Is he a runner by chance?"The older man asks. 

Frank laughs as he thinks of all the excuses he has used over the years to avoid jogging with his friend. "Yeah. Long distance. Since Korea he's been into it seriously. Says it clears his head. Why?" 

"I thought so. That's what kept him breathing. Most of us, myself included, us only at the most 2/3 of our lung capacity. Runners especially cross country ones lung fields are highly conditioned..they use every available aveoli.Even the ones at the base that we seldom need in everyday living. Thats why it seems like joggers never get a cold. They do just they can function nomally with one lung so you never notice them being out of breath." 

"So all the time he wastes on the beaches every morning paid off?" Frank inquires. 

"You better believe it! Essentially he just ran a 2000 mile marathon. " Standing up slowly he slaps Frank on the back. "This is the most energized I felt in my work for a long time. Keep the faith Lieutenant. His hearts strong and." He pauses briefly trying to compose his thoughts. "I don't know how to explain this exactly..but when I checked his pupil reflexes there was a spark there. I'm not guaranteeing anything but spirit is probably the most important aspect of this business. All our knowledge and technology is useless without it. It amazes me what the mind can make the body do sometimes. I've seen some damn near impossible things happen because of willpower. I've never met your friend before this but I've got the feeling he's a fighter." 

"Can I see him?"Evershall asks insistantly 

"He's unconcious." The MD states and looking at the fidgiting engineer realizes that to the Liuetenant at this point mental status is a nonissue. " OK 10 minutes. But don't expect a reaction. Come this way." Hesitating a briefly at the door Frank enters the ICU slowly, uncertain of what he is going to find . Steve is laying inertly in the coner and except for the bruising he is whiter than the sheets. There is an IV in his left hand and both feet. 3 drains and a chest tube compete for spqce with the EKG leads. His right arm is secured to his chest. There is an O2 cannula and NG tube in his nose.Frank runs his fingers though Steve's hair "Oh my God buddy. What the heck happened??"  
  
The following day despite protests Steve was flown to Hawaii along with Drs Sapriestein & Hadrian, two nurses and Frank who insisted on going with them.   
During the next two weeks he spikes a high temp and has several seizures. Late one evening Frank is sitting quietly beside the bed with his feet up on the rail almost asleep when Dr. Sapriestien enters the room Shaking his head in amazement at the intensity of Evershall's vigil he begins to wonder if any of his friends were that loyal. Sadly he concludes that probably none them would. Silently he vows to change his social habits. Breathing deeply several times he shakes the younger man's leg slightly. "Lieutenant. Go home. You are not doing either of you any good killing yourself like this." 

"I want to be here when he wakes up." Evershall insists. Then asks hesitantly. "What's he...going to...what'll happen when he wakes up?" 

"Best case. He'll say hello." 

"And worst..." He replies uncertainly. 

"You're looking at it." Seeing the shock in the Lt.'s grey eyes he immediately regrets the flippant answer. "What happened is..I've explained this to you before..When his head hit his brain was knocked around inside the skull. So while the bone hit once and cracked the brain bounced back and forth at least 3 or 4 times. Crazy macho guys..If he'd of been wearing a helmet." 

The horrifying image of the bouncing helmet leaps into Franks mind. "Ruined his ears..." He responds involuntarily. 

"What?" Saprestien asks. "His hearing is fine. Hyperacute actually. Tuning fork threw him into a seizure." 

"No. No." Frank babbles trying to explain. "Some of the seniors at the academy started called him Mickey. As in Mickey Mouse. For some stupid reason he prefers that to Tiger they were calling him in Korea. He's got black mouse ears painted...Doc he was wearing a helmet. There's a crack through the ears." 

"Thank God for that!" The MD replies in obvious relief."Guess I should have asked sooner." 

"Steve's macho allright." Frank retorts. "But he's not stupid." 

"Probably a good 75 to 80 % of the impact went into cracking the plastic. According to the EEG there is damage in the frontal and occipital lobes but its less now than last week. Most likey there'll be some emotional disturbances for a while. Visual distortions." 

"He's blind!" Frank swallows hard. 

"No." The doctor reassures. "I said distortions. More like double vision. This is entirely a guess on my part. We won't know anything till he wakes up." 

"Sgt Mjr Peters." Frank laughs taking his feet off the rail. 

"Who??" 

"He was a DI at the academy. The guy really had it in for Steve for some reason. Rode him the entire time. Nothing he ever did was good enough for Sgt Peters. His favorite saying was 'Everything looks worse than it actually is.' That's been Steve's motto for years. So how's the paper coming Doc?" 

"Its raining in Tokyo right now. You think I'm wasting my temporary transfer here on a paper that might never get written!!" 

At least you got a job to do. The pilots won't let loose of the MIG yet. Doc how come they had to bring him back here anyway?" 

" I don't know. It was a totally unneccessary risk but no one wanted to listen to me. I'm just the physician in charge. Apperently that doesn't count for much with the brass. These intelligence people are a difficult bunch to deal with. After the first seizure I started him on sodium pentathol..its a standard treatment and he should have responded. Nothing happened no matter how high I upped the dosage. He was in status epilepticus and Captain Heinriche stood right there- watching as we tried to control the seizuring-didn't say a word the whole time and then just walked away. I can't believe that man is a human being!" He snaps in obvious disgust. "Lieutenant Anderson came along fortunately ...and told me its what they use to get people to talk. I've heard of it being called Truth Serum before. Patients do say some stange things on it. Glen told me they all were given high doses of 'a honey yellow colored drug' during the war to build up a tolerance to it. Sodium Pentathol is the only thing I know of that color. I switched him to phenabarbitol and so far its been effective. Heinriche'd rather let him die in a seizure than let out a 'secret weapon'. I just don't get these people! 

Frank laughs "Yeah Steve drives me nuts sometimes with all the cloak and dagger stuff. Anymore I just don't ask him. I've met some of his friends before.. they're OK." Frank looks at him hopefully. " So how long before he comes around huh?" 

"To be honest I'm starting to get a little cocerned myself. His ICP went over the top yesterday . The EEG and xrays don't show any further damage. I started a caffiene drip this morning. 

Coffee IV's! Now I've heard just about everything Doc" Evershall laughs. 

Its a new theory I read about..works on the cerebral arteries." 

Well in his case you better run it in by the gallons. The way he drinks that stuff he's probably got a tolerance built up to it too" 

Steve whispers quietly "Frank...you going....to talk about me..all day..." 

Stunned by the quiet intrusion into their conversation both men jump from their chairs.Frank reaches through the bars and grinning at the physician. "Best case huh Doc!?" He instinctively grabs ahold of Steve's left arm. "Hey you allright?"He greets cheerfully then asks very seriously."What the hell happened?" 

"I..don't...know..." Steve turns his head slightly to the right and begins to gag uncontrollably.. "Where..." 

Recognizing the oncoming vertigo and fearing the damage it could cause Dr Saprestien glances at the crash cart in the corner and mumbling something about stocking runs from the room 

"Easy buddy. You're in the hospital. Everythings gonna be OK. Just relax" He tries desperately to reassure his increasingly anxious friend. 

"Where...everythings going around...which way am I...Frank where's up?" 

"WHAT!?." Concerned becauses Steve's eyes are open but tracking in the wrong direction Evershall swallows hard and then asks. "You can see?" 

"yeah...but the worlds moving......Frank!" He screams quietly 

_'Oh God whats happening?_ "OK." He replies trying to sound calm. "No problem. Right now you're on your back. I'm on your left side even with your chest. Your heads turned about 40 degrees left. If you look downrange you'll see me." 

Grabbing the rail he tilts his head slightly and begins to gag uncontrollably as the doctor returns with a handful of preloaded syringes.Noticing the slight shaking of his and on the rail and thinking it to be the beginings of another seizure he throws the extra syringes on the table and shoving Frank slightly out of the way rolls the patient towards him whips the sheet back and visualizes the center of the gluteal muscle instead of feeling for landmarks as he normally would have and quickly injects the contents of thee syringe. At the abrupt movement Steve screams and grabs wildly at everything he could see. 

"Steve calm down! You're OK." Frank tries to reorient. "Its over. He just gave you a shot of something. You're right back where you were" 

"Frank...don't..." He croaks. 

"I'm right here. I promise I won't let go. Relax." He pins Steves knees to the bed "Quit that before you hurt yourself! Nobodys got you." He reassures. "Your ankles are tied down because you kept kicking the needles out of your feet. I'm right here OK" 

"What was that." The doctor asks 

"Korean. He just called somebody an sob. I didn't catch all of it. Charlie had him for awhile. I saw him a few months after he got back. Middle of the night he'd wake up yelling like that." He grabs the doctors arm. "He's not going back to that again?? "What did you give him?!" 

"Just something to stop the vomitting. Relax.Go home. Things are finally looking up" 

"Doc what's wrong? He asked me which way up was. Now he's back in the war." 

"My guess would be its a combination of the skull fractures and severe vertigo from the crash. He's photosensitive too I see....wonder what that's from. ...Remember what I told you back in Japan. Keep the faith. Guess its time to start looking for a typewriter. He's going to be out all night. Go home Lieutenant." 

For the next week he is in and out of conciousness only for brief intervals.. The diorientation continues and he is wearing sunglasses in a darkened room  
  
Shunning the Visiting Officers Quarters which in his opinion were barely larger than a prison cell and about as attractive. Yet during the winter months at Pearl the white walled cells are filled to capacity Frank mused as he sat on Steve's spacious lanai. Laughing to himself he made a mental note to inquire how his single friend managed to get himself a 3 bedroom apartment among the senior officers with an ocean view, if you looked really hard, and weekly maid service none the less! _well at least he won't have to salute his neighbors anymore_ He thought as he watched the captain next door returning from his morning jog. Picking up his half empty tea glass he walked inside and looking at the living room wall his eyes locked on the framed congressional star next to the picture of Steve's parents._Like father like son...but at least his old man got to see his. It'll make him mad but I probably should call his sister_ The ringing telephone interupts his thoughts and glaring at the offending device he realized the only people who knew he was there was the engineering master chief and Doc._Too early for him..Oh God what's happened to Steve! _

"Evershall." He responds anxiously. "What's up?" 

A womans voice on the other end demands to know where Steve is.Deciding it was either a magazine company or a nut case and either way he didn't want to be bothered Starting to hang up he remembered who else might have the unllisted number. 

"Wait ...you're Kathy--the lady lawyer. Steve's girlfriend??" Assured that it was he suddenly didn't know what to say. "Oh geez...uh this isn't a secure line...Where's your office..I'll meet you" 

He drives into Honolulu to an upscale office complex where he is met by a rude frizzy haired receptionist who reluctantly announces him 

"Mam." She whines into the intercom box. "There's a sailor out here. He doesn't have an appointment. Says he won't go away." 

A tall slender brunette rushes out of her office nearly tripping over the receptionists desk trying to get to him."Lieutenant.. Evershall is it? What's going on?" She demands. "Where's Steve??" 

The receptionist interupts them. Kathy turns sharply towards her 

"SHUT UP BRENDA!" She screams with a ferocity that takes Frank aback momentarily. "Cancel all my appointments" 

"Mrs O'Bannon. The bar association luncheon today" She squeaks in a nasal voice "Judge Akillli....." 

Kathy's turquoise eyes turn dark as she spins around towards her "I told you I don't care!!Tell them all something. You're good at getting rid of people. That's why I keep you here but you WERE my husbands secretary...not mine!" 

Frank thinks to himself _'Husband. Steve what have you gotten yourself into here?'_

He escorts her out of the building towards a black 1956 Thunderbird convertible parked across the street. 

"Thats Steve's car!"She exclaims halfway into the traffic and grabs him by the shoulders catching him totally unexpectedly and pounds on his chest with fire in her eyes and screams"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH HIM!!!" Frank grabs her arms to fend of further attack and get her out of the busy street."Stop it! Calm down will you and listen! " 

Struggling to get her arms free she remembers the self defense techniques Steve had taught her and starts kicking him in the shins, fortuantely for Frank she was unable to get her knee high enough for a groin kick, screamig at the top of her lungs "WHERE IS HE!!" Still holding her by the arms Frank picks her up a few inches off the ground and carries her across the street and opening the car door with one hand and defending himself with the other shoves her into the car and still holding her arms kicks the door shut."CALM DOWN!" He stares at her with a fire beginning deep inside his grey eyes. "I'm not going to take you to Steve in this shape! Now stop behaving like a child and calm yourself down before you have a heartattack." Shoving her arms back he walks around to the drivers side of the car and stands beside the door. 

"Satisfied." She replies indignantly, rubbing her sore wrists and glaring at the naval officer.". You can get in the car." 

Reaching down to put the key in the ignition Evershall states calmly "If you would kindly get yourself together I will take you to him." Kathy's demeanor changed slowly as Frank drove back towards the base and by the time they reached the highway she had apologised for beating him up. "Steve told me he'd be away on business for a few days. When I didn't hear from him for 2 weeks I got worried. Nobody at the base would tell me anything.They wouldn't even let me through the gate. I was there at some generals ball...they didn't treat me like this. One SP reluctantly told me his car was at his quarters.I thought maybe I'd made him mad somehow but when you answered I knew....something....was wrong." 

"Those intelligence guys take security seriously.Look its none of my business what you two are doing but if you're just using him to upset your husband or something. Then I'll take you back right now." 

"WHAT!." She screamed ready to slap him again.Why would.....? My names Kathy Kieley-O'Bannon. I go by the Kieley. Oh; you heard ...Mike, my husband, died 3 years ago. Hodgkins Disease. I'm not.....you thought.....No. Steve and I are....I love him very much. What's going on?" 

"There's been an accident." Frank explains chosing his words very carefully. "Steve's in pretty bad shape" 

"He's not....." She hesitates to finish the setence. 

"I don't know. The doctors aren't sure even. He was stable this morning when I left." 

She lays on the doorframe and crys for several minutes then drying her eyes she looks up resolutely. _'I buried one man. Can I do it again? Kathy you knew he had a risky job. You let yourself get involved. Oh hell, its too late now. I love him. Thats what matters'_ "I want to see him." 

Security's pretty tight. I don't know if I can get you in." 

"At least tell me what happened." She turns sideways in the seat to face him. "Please." 

"Honestly I'm not sure what I can tell you. We don't know much and Steve isn't able to tell us anything substantial. Three weeks ago he was in a plane crash 

She sinks back in the seat and stares out at the moving clouds _Oh God no!..._ and blinking back tears. "He's..." 

Arriving at the gate Frank salutes expecting to be waved through and realizing at the last second that he's not jambs on the brakes. _Steve'll kill me if I scratch his car. The forms to explain why I didn't stop.....thank heavens he's kept the servicing appointments._

A tall well tanned seaman comes out of the guard booth. "Afternoon Sir. I know your Commander McGarretts friend from Tokyo. Sir in case you didn't know this is an alert week." He points towards Kathy. "No civilians on base" 

Frank looks over at Kathy beginning to explode again and glares icily at the enlisted man. "Seaman Watkins is it? 

"Yes Sir?" He answers professionally hoping not to be in trouble with the unfamiliar officer. 

"You don't...haven't I seen you hanging around the hospital?....Yeah with a little Mexican guy." 

"Yes Sir. We've been there. He's the same as yesterday I hear." 

"This is his girlfriend" Frank states matter of factly. 

"Oh geez." Watkins looks around the area to see if any other officers are watching. " Don't give her the grand tour Ok sir." He lifts the gate and Frank quickly drives through before he changes his mind. 

"What did he mean by the same as yesterday?" Kathy asks hanging onto the arm rest as Frank accellerates through the gate 

"You'll see in a little bit." He replies trying to reassure the woman before she starts punching him again. "He looks kind of bad but don't panic..he's actually improving." 

"Then he's going to be OK..."She asks hopefully. 

"I don't know." Evershall sighs. 

The SP guards in the hallway, recent arrivals to the islands, stop the pair outside the ICU room door reminding Frank of the security issue. Kathy begins to get her blood boiling at the two sailors blocking her path this close to the man she loved.Claws at the ready she tries to shove her way through the pair as Frank grabs her by the waist restraining her before the youngster guarding the door pulls his gun. Explaining who she was had some effect on the 19 year old who tugged at his younger partners jumper sleeve. Laughing,even though he didn't find it funny, Evershall pointed out to them that if Steve is in a coma it was highly unlikely that a state secret would be divulged. After a breif exchange the two step away from the door. 

"What a pair of bastards!" Kathy hisses as the door slams behind her." 

"Calm down! That isn't going to do Steve any good." 

"I'm OK." She reasures squinting as her eyes adjust to the darkness of the room. _Taxes I pay. You'd think the Navy could afford a few lightbulbs_

"OK. Now listen carefully. There are some groundrules. He's got a couple of skull fractures that's keeping him out of it. I don't guarantee he'll respond. 

"You don't understand......I don't care about that...._'Oh that's a stupid statement. He allready thinks I'm having an affair..and now I don't care if he's awake....Kathy you're not impressing this guy_She turns towards him and says quietly. "I just want to see him..that's all.." 

" Any light upsets him so don't take the glasses off and if you move him any tell him first which diection or he'll get dizzy and start throwing up" 

She sits down in the chair beside him and begins to stroke him gently alongside his right ear. After several minutes his fingers start to move slightly 

"Steve. Right side. Ninety degrees down range three feet" Evershall directs. Slowly he turns his head the wrong direction and grabs the bar with his left hand. Frank bumps his knuckles slightly "Still on your back. OK?" He swallows hard and nods imperceptably but lets go of the rail. 

""Steve I..."She starts to say something and losing her train of thought lays her head on his chest. The unexpected weight on his ribcage causes him to jump._I can't lose him. Not like this. So sudden. Mike....we had a year to... I had a year..you mean...to adjust. But this..... One day we're..the next he's...GONE'_ Several minutes later he slowly touches the top of her head. "I'm...OK..." He responds weakly. 

Momentarily stunned by the unexpected reply she quickly sits up and leans over to kiss him gently. " Hi Sailor." She smiles biting her lip to keep from crying. 

Frank sits up in his chair on the left side of him. "You with us?" 

"Yeah....my head hurts..." 

Frank laughs and taps him on the arm "I'll bet it does." _'Thats got to be the understatement of the century'_ Can you deal with 2 of us talking?" 

Steve nods slightly "Quietly...please..." 

"Your boss left orders to call him as soon as you're coherent" 

"Don't think ..I'm that.." He half grins. 

"OK Just me and Kathy. What the heck happened? And drop all the spy stuff" 

"Dak?" 

"I don't know. He was here to see you last week. Your boss's been grilling him pretty rough." 

"Last week...how long...have I..." 

"Since the crash Uh.... 3 weeks day before yesterday." 

"Oh God.." Steve sighs trying to figure out what had happened during that time but gives it up quickly as his head begins to spin. 

"You've been in and out. Mostly out though. What happened?" Frank asks more insistantly. 

His eyes wide open underneath the avitor glasses he tries to focus on what he thinks is Frank however the scent of Jasmine perfume distracts him from his goal of seeing something, anything clearly. "....Vivaldi..I said I wouldn't be late...are you mad..." 

Kathy runs her fingers through his hair and gently kisses him again. "Oh Steve. God no." _Of all the things to worry about...A stupid concert with a bunch of lawyers. I didn't even want to go to begin with._ She shakes him playfully "But..You stand me up again and I'll do worse than this to you" 

The rapid movement disorients him and grabbing ahold of the rail he tries to keep from passing out "Don't...." he whispers quietly. 

Kathy looks down at his even paler coloring and quickly lets go "What?? Oh. I wasn't supposed to move...." Realizing she broke groundrule number 2."Steve are you allright? I didn't....You're still in the same place. I didn't hurt you did I?" 

"No.."He bites his lower lip." ...but....don't do it again...please..." 

_'He's losing it again'_ "OK buddy. We've established that she's not mad at you." He tries to keep Steve's attention on the situation. "Now come on.Before you pass out and we have to wait another 3 weeks.. What happened??" 

'They shot us down...the plane was spinning in" He starts to sit up and sensing that he's falling. "Smitty" He begins to gag from the movement. 

Kathy shoves him back onto the bed as Frank leans in front of her "You can't move like this Steve. You know that. Relax. Breathe deep. You're back on your back I'm on the left 2 feet. Kathy's on your right 3 feet 90 degrees up range." He grabs a plastic cup and shoves an ice chip in his mouth "Here. Ice cube. Now just lay there OK. Please?" He sits back down in the chair. 

_Oh lord he always takes stuff so personal. I hope he can deal with this now._"If you're talking about the pilot." _'Nuts! He doesn't remember the guys dead. I wonder how well he knew the guy.. What's the best way to...straight out with it I guess '_ "The.....guy you came with says he's dead. I'm sorry." 

He starts to cry as Frank looks down at the floor. _'I blew that one. I guess he had to find out sooner or later. Doc said his emotions would be screwed up for awhile maybe I should have waited till he was here before I told him about this._

Kathy runs her fingers through Steve's hair. "It's Ok honey." She reassures calmly_'Oh boy.He's not going to deal with this well.And the stubborn fool probably won't let either of us help him either. Oh Steve there are times you can be so annoying.'_ She grabs a kleenex "Shut your eyes OK" She lifts up the sunglasses. "There. You can see right?" She suddenly wonders. 

Wincing he opens his eyes and looks at her for a second "Yeah.Fuzzy stuff. I think some of its upside down or right side up and I'm upside down.... Double of some things triple of others. But far as I can tell there's only one of you." Blushing she kisses him and puts the glasses back on. "I love you too" 

"You sure you want to hear this now? " Frank asks. At the slight nod he continues."Killed on impact. The right side of the plane crashed first so You were thrown clear before it hit the ground. Only thing that makes any sense to me. Did you try to eject?" 

"I don't know.." 

"According to Dak the canopy was gone. When you eject the canopy blows off and the seats shoot out. A wiring glitch must have kept the pilot in but since you weren't wearing a chute when he found you I figure only your seatbelt must have come loose and when the plane tipped you fell out a second or two before impact. More than likely you would have been hanging on to the plane and that's what ripped your shoulder out of joint so you were probably awake when you hit the ground. Make any sense to you??" 

"...No...but it sounds good. What'd you do with Smith?" 

"Calm down. The guy says he buried him. The MIG's a 2 seater plane. Steve he didn't have a choice._'Get him off this before he goes off on some weird tangent and you can't get him back'_ "There was a bunch of film inside your jacket. I gave it to your boss. ..What was so hell fired important they had to send you up for?" 

" I can't....classified" 

_'Here we go with National Security again'_"Damn it Steve!" Frank bangs the rail in frustration startling Kathy and sending Steve spinning. "You were almost killed. Now I know who you were with. Where you came from. And I'm tearing down what you came in. For the love of God drop the damn cloak and dagger just this once!!" 

Swallowing hard he tries to deduce his spatial postion in reference to the shockwave of the rattling rail finally giving up decides that Frank didn't say he moved so he must be in the same place.which ever way that was. 

"DAMNIT! What the hell happened!!?" He yells sending further shockwaves through Steve's head. 

" Nodongs. Big ones. Lots of them.I was going to tell you Frank. Please...if you have to yell. Do it softly. The South Koreans found out about a convoy of DF2's coming down from Canton" 

Frank leans back in the chair "Sweet Jesus." He lets out a low whistle. 

"Yeah." Steve whispers in agreement. 

"OK. What else do you remember? Who shot you?" Kathy looks up in horror wondering if she really wanted to know about that and settles for holding the three unbroken fingers of his right hand. 

"Infantry squad. I got a few of them...They got me too?? Bad????" 

"Not too bad I guess. You're still breathing. Most of you's still moving.Worse than when you hit the tree. Let the doctors tell you all that huh." 

"Yeah. They've got a way of making the good news sound bad. Next I knew Dak was there. We were bouncing all over the place.Everything was moving.. I think he got ahold of morphine someplace along the way" 

"The academy...Steve...you're allergic to that stuff. That's why you can't stand light. What were you thinking!" 

"I wasn't...the way my arm hurt..its a fair trade. After we took off I don't remember anything till now." He swallows hard and resigns himself to the situation. "Oh God. I think its gonna be worse tomorrow" 

"You're right about that." Frank replies sympathetically. "There's a herd of brass waiting for you to wake up. And that idiot you work for is leading the stampede."_ Nothing I can do about that. Wait a second. Maybe I can make you feel a little better_ Frank reaches over and gets a box out of the bedside table "Can you stand to take the glasses off for a minute?" 

"I guess so....why?" Kathy reaches over and lifts them up. 

"I don't know the speech that goes with this but..here goes. Commander McGarrett on behalf of the United States Navy and Congress." He stands up and salutes. "Its my pleasure to present you with this." Opening the box he pulls out the gold star swinging on its aqua ribbon. 

"Is that what I think it is??" 

"Yep." He grins."You tied your old man.You have kids they'll get the same guaranteed ride you did. And you won't have to salute that idiot captain next door who plays Wagner all night." 

"Wow Steve. that's terriffic." Kathy kisses him and then bites his lip."But our kids are going to have nice quiet safe jobs." 

"You're kidding...for this.....?? I didn't do anything.....Hartwell told me I came close when the ship got blown out of the water. But this?????" 

"Hey you don't want it." He teases. "I'll take it." 

"I didn't say that." He tries to grab at what he thinks is the medal. Frank drops it in his lap. "How'd you..." 

"Some suit from Washington was here." He says in disgust remembering the impish beureaucrat's attitude at the time. "Everyone thought it would be a posthumous presentation so he just left it. Crazy fool he could have had a free Hawaiian vacation just waiting for you to wake up too." 

Steve tries to laugh but the sharp pain in his ribs reminded him nothing was that funny. "No body ever said bureaucrats were smart. Glad to know Washington cares so much. Hope I didn't ruin anyone's funeral plans. Nice speech though technically....it's Lieutenant Commander McGarrett....as long as we're being formal about this." 

"Not according to the admiral that was here two weeks ago." Frank informs. "If you make it there's a promotion included. Now you really outrank me." Snapping to attention he salutes and remains in the stance for several seconds. "Come on allready. Return the salute will you....geez...some officers...give them a little rank." 

_Wish I could_ "Uh Frank....Just how am I supposed to do that?" 

Laughing he shoves the sunglasses back down and drops into the chair."I don't gotta call you Sir now do I?" 

_I feel like hell but this is too good to pass up._"You know the rules Lieutenant!" He yells as loud as his pounding head would allow. "Half a stripe and its questionable but a whole one and its Yes Sir all the way." 

"Huh??" Frank wonders 

" OK. Since its you. I'll make an exception..but only in Singapore bars and maybe if I'm in the mood on the golf course." 

"Since when have we been in Singapore together and you haven't golfed with me in over a year." Frank looks over at him dejectedly.** "OK SIR!!** He yells knowing it will echo in his former friend's head."If that's the way you want it. I'll be on my way back to Japan. Call me sometime." 

"Gotcha!" Steve grins broadly. "Remember that girl in Subic. You told her I was married. Payback's a bitch buddy!" 

Laughing with relief he messes up the hair Kathy had neatly straightened."I hate your jokes. But man am I glad you're back." 

"Thanks..." Steve whispers closing his eyes.  



	3. Chapter 3

  
  
Sitting in his comfortable chair reading the newspaper and having an unusual 3rd pre dinner scotch. Captain Heinriche was annoyed when the phone next to him rang. Forgetting that he had requested; no he had ordered, an update on his agent's condition each change of watch."Heinriche!" He yelled into the instrument. "This had better be important! Disturbing a Captain this late in the evening. There is a thing called office hours." Overjoyed at the news the young seaman was telling him he fought back the urge to drive like a maniac to the base hospital and see for himself. Instead he promised the startled young seaman and his partner a rare unrequested 72 hour liberty. Rushing into the kitchen he shoved the roasted chicken sitting on the counter into the fridge grabbed his wife from behind and told her to get dressed they were going into Honolulu. 

Awakening early despite the very late evening Heinriche forgoes his morning walk to the pier and back grabbing a muffin from the table he downs the morning coffee with his hat on shoves the muffin in his teeth grabs his briefcase and heads out the front door returning quickly to retrieve his car keys. 

Arriving at the hospital he greets the nurses warmly, causing quite a conversation about radical personality change during shift report,and enters Steve's room carrying a stack of folders and maps. Watching him sleep the captains elation wanes slightly and noting that the bruising had finally turned yellow he realizes just how long this state of suspension has lasted._ Why am I doing this?_ Quietly setting the papers on the edge of the table and tossing his hat on the chair Heinriche begins to question the importance of his mission _I should just leave him alone. We've waited a month whats a few more days. Let the damn missiles rust! I could just say hello and leave._Deciding against questioning McGarrett he picks up the pile of folders and shoves them back into his briefcase."Nuts!" He berates quietly as a memo falls out on the floor.Bending over to retrieve the dropped papr the Captain remembered the scathing phone call which accompanied the message._ No _the senior officer thought realizing that there was no escape from this situation for either of them. _The stuffed shirt admirals woould just come over here. Wait a minute...I'm up for a flag. Have I become one of them someplace along the way?? Never mind all that now. I guess its better for him to deal with me than some admiral's staff bozo he doesn't know. I'll bet his fuse is way shorter than normal. He'd rip the guy to shreds in 2 seconds, then we'd never know about the nodongs. Some days I really hate this job....._ "Commander.." He asks quietly. "You in there??" 

Opening his eyes Steve swalllows hard. _Oh great. Here it comes.._ " yes...Sir... I guess so." 

"THANK GOD! You're OK then? _That was a stupid statement.If he was OK we wouldn't be here.Sometimes I really blow it._ Heinriche gently shakes his shoulder. "You did a hell of a job son." 

Oh God!" Steve yells as the slight motion sends him falling down an endless black tunnel. In the process of righting himself he accidentally turns the wrong way and not finding the expected rail begins to flail around in a panic screaming 

"What the hell!?" Heinriche exclaims as he pins his agent down to the bed. "McGarrett relax!" The Captain orders readjusting his lock on the flailing limbs. You're going to flip yourself on the floor!" 

" ...where am I..." Steve asks breathing hard from the exhertion. 

Base Hospital. Close Observation Ward. You're going to be allright." He reassures. "Calm down.Please." 

Frank enters the room in a cheerful mood having actually slept the preceding night."Good morn...." Rapidly assessing what must have preceded the wrestling match Evershall grabs the plastic cup and shoves Heinriche out of the way. slipping the ice chip in between screams he leans over and whispers "Steve.He's got a ton of papers. Stay down." Turning sharply he glares intensely at the senior officer. "What are you trying to do Captain kill him??" 

"I can't Frank." Steve replies breathing heavily from the the exhertion. 

"OK. I understand. I guess. But if was me this yutz wouldn't be worth it. You ended up on your right side. Turn towards me 90 degrees." Frank directs as he tries to pry his friend's fingers loose from the opposite rail."First you gotta let go. Its OK you're not going to fall anyplace. I'm right here. Come left 90 degrees."The lieutenat shakes his head as he watches Steve turn in the wrong direction. "I said left. We went over this remember. Left is the side you can move. Allright. Hang on. This is liable to hurt a little but you can't stay like that all day. Pass out and you'll snuff yourself." Grabbing ahold of his shoulders Frank quickly flips Steve onto his back. "There. 0 degrees up range 3 feet." Relaxing at the slight grin of his friend." You OK now??" He asks heading towards the chair. "John Reggis called last night..." 

Seeing that the crisis is over Heinriche spins Frank around pulling him off balance and dragging him into the hallway. "What the hell's going on here!" He demands. 

"You moved him didn't you?" Frank snaps leaning against the handrail glaring back at the older man.. 

"NO." The Captain snaps defensively. Wait..I... touched him??" He adds . 

"That's enough to do it. He's still disoriented. All his reflexes are exaggerated. Any kind of excess light, noise or MOVEMENT sets him off." 

"The ice cubes??" Heinriche wonders. 

"Movements of all kinds make him sick. They're giving him shots of something to keep him from throwing up but for some wierd reason once he starts an ice cube will usually stop it. No one knows why exactly. Suffice to say it works. And thank heavens it does. He's allready ripped out his stitches twice and broke several ribs fom it. Any time they want to take him someplace. Xrays or something they have to sedate him first." Frank half chuckles at memory of the battling MDs. "Dr Hadrian said less planning went into Operation Overlord than arranging an xray for Steve. They both got on Dr Capelli's case for wanting too many pictures of his arm. The agreement is now if they need one xray he gets all of them and a brainscan " 

"My God.I had no idea." Heinriche leans against the doorjamb in astonishment."How long is this going to last?" He demandss. 

"They don't know Sir." Evershall replies growing increasingly annoyed by the captains presence. "He's getting OK with up and down. When he's on his back anyway. If you're going to move him you HAVE to tell him first. Better yet. Leave him alone!" 

"LIEUTENANT!"The captain barks. Ready to pounce on the insubordinate junior officer Heinriche propels himself off the doorjamb then recognizing the stress Evershall had to have been under the past month swallows back the brewing tirade and instead replies quietly. "I wish I could do just that. But there are extinuating circumstances you are unaware of which take precedence over what any of us want. Including Commander McGarrett. Now if you will excuse me." 

Look Sir. I know about the nodongs." Frank states blocking the doorway. 

"How did......" The Captain stutters. Surprised by the casual revalation of an eyes-only secret. 

"He was talking in his sleep." Franks replies with what he knew was a plausible explaination for the knowledge. "Considering everything else...doesn't take a rocket scientist Sir. They're there OK. Now you can go back to your office." 

"Then surely you must understand how imperitive it is that we obtain the precise locations." 

_WHAT! You're a bigger jerk than I thought! _Taken momentarily aback by the older man's seeming lack of concern Frank can only stare at him, a fire building behind his grey eyes, "Captain he doesn't know top from bottom. Just how the hell's he going to tell you where those silos are?!" Frank argues. 

"Lieutenant. I have no idea." Heinrche responds sincerely." But we've got to try." Taking several deep breaths he walks slowly back into the room. "I'm sorry son. I had no idea." 

Stuffing his hands in his pants pockets Frank follows the old man into the room and drops into his customary chair._It's a matter of national security. The fate of the free world is in the ballast. Life as we know it could cease to exist if the Red Menace gains the upper hand _He thinks sarcastically. 

"Its OK Sir." Steve answers quietly 

"Good."The captain replies with a rare display of warmth then quickly returns to the business at hand. "OK. The nodongs are real. Do you remember flying over the sites?" 

Swallowing hard at the multitude of spinning images in his head Steve nods slightly. 

"Excellent!" Heinriche claps with delight sending shockwaves through Steve's head and arousing Frank from his thoughts. "Now then." Sitting on the edge of the bed he continues."Were they where we were told?" 

"No Sir......way....off." Steve replies swallowing an ice cube. "You're....doing ..it ...again.." 

"What????" Heinriche defends then realizing what he meant quickly hops up."Surely my sitting wasn't enough." 

"Sir right now the draft off a fly's wing is enough to send me into orbit!" Steve replies sharply. "Get on with it." 

"OK then, lets take it from the top. You entered Chinese airspace at." He looks over at Frank." 

"I'm NOT leaving Sir.!" Evershall informs. 

_If you weren't so damned good for him. I'd have your butt on the first plane back to Japan. _"Very well." Thinking he had won round two of the confrontation with the lieutenant Heinriche grins slyly at Frank. "Point Alpha Steve." 

Reaching through the rail Steve hits Frank on the knees and grins knowing what he's about to do will piss off the Old Man. "We dropped down over Xinju. Those Brits in Hong Kong were right about the el-int out there being non-existant. There was nothing there but if the pictures were true.......we figured we couldn't see anything if we flew over radar so...we flew under it. 200 feet off the deck. Smitty bounced off the mountains." Sensing an oncoming emotional outburst Frank quickly shoves an icecube between Steve's teeth. "What's that one...for???" He asks innocently 

"Prevention." Evershall states matter of factly. "When you found out about the pilot last night...you probably broke another rib." 

"Probably???" Steve replies sarcastically. 

"You don't want them to knock you out again just to find out do you." Frank reminds. 

"Guess not.....what's one more." Steve swallows hard. "What about John Reggis?" 

"I didn't think you caught that." Frank replies. "He called looking for you. Dave's going to get his sub physical at Bethesda this year." 

"Huh?"Steve asks annoyed that his friend always takes way too much time to relay information. 

" Paux River is probably closer for us." 

"Why do we....Annapolis???? You really want to go back there!" 

"Heck no! They might not let me back out. But he wants to get married in the chapel." Frank states. 

"When's........" 

"Relax you've got till December to get your head on straight." Evershall laughs. 

"I hope that's...." Steve replies distantly. 

_Get it over with. Best way. Before he loses focus _"Back to the mission" Heinriche orders picking up a map of Eastern China. "OK. Here's point alpha. That puts the mountains as Xindangu. Where did you go from there??" 

"Sir?? Steve looks at him questioningly. "There aren't any mountains in Maryland." 

"Commander! You're flying over China. Where from point alpha? Just look at the map." _Impatiently he holds it a little closer. _

"Which one Sir? There's three of them." 

_Now what!_ "Steve I'm only holding one page." He replies irritatedly. "Maybe if you shut one eye??" 

After several seconds Steve gives up looking and scoots down in the bed. 

"Commander!" Heinriche snaps in frustration. "Focus! Pay attention to what's going on. OK. Nodongs not weddings. Just orient yourself to the map." 

"The map!" He screams and instantly regrets the reverberating outburst. Holding tight to the rail he closes his eyes for a couple of minutes then replies quietly. "I'm not oriented to the room let alone a piece of paper." 

"Allright Steve." He throws the large pre WWII cartograph on the bed. "No map! If I give you a picture??" 

"Sir. Everythings fuzzy." Steve replies. 

Becoming increasingly aggitated Heinriche starts to pace the room as he tries to figure out how to find the missile locations; stopping briefly to peer out through the closed venetian blinds and letting in a large amount of unwanted light. "So!" Letting go of the window shade the Captain spins abruptly on his heel towards the pair of officers. "We've fianally got the goods on the Commies only....we don't know where the hell they are!" Watching Frank remove his hand from in front of Steve's eyes and drop back in the chair playing idily with the ice cubes the captain shakes his head in frustration. "Steve why didn't you get the film off the wing camera?!" 

_I'm damned lucky to have gotten my butt out of there and he worries about the film....figures...._ "I was too busy saving my rear SIR!" He snaps then regrets the outburst as the words echo in his head. "There wasn't a wing left to get it off of Sir." He replies quietly. 

_Good for you buddy. Tell him where to get off. Long as you're nuts he can't charge you._ Laughing to himself that Steve had just won them round three of the Heinriche vs Evershall/McGarrett confrontation Frank glares at the senior officer. 

Frustration overcoming reason Heinriche angrily pounds his fist on the table causing both Steve and Frank to jump. "All I know is you went in at the right place and that chink picked you up 2000 miles away! DAMNIT McGarrett. Washington's got me by the balls on this!" He yells. 

"Sir . Bad enough you're yelling at me." Steve states quietly trying to keep from spinning. "But could you please say in one spot while you're doing it? I'm going to run out of ice cubes. 

_If I don't calm him down I'm going to lose him _"Oh yeah. Sure Son. I forgot." Heinriche reluctantly sits in the chair. _He's got to do this. For all our sakes. Somehow??_ "If your directions' off...how are you with time??" 

"Frank???" Steve asks questioningly 

"Gee. I don't know." The lieutenant shrugs. "Ok I guess. Uh..how long have I been here this morning?" 

"About.." He hesitates then adds ."Half an hour???" 

Evershall looks down at his watch. "40 minutes. Give or take 10 minutes for when he freaked you out." Frank rationalizes. "Close enough. At least something still works." 

_Everything looks worse than it actually is._ "Thank God for that!" glancing briefly at the ceiling he swallows hard and moans quietly. 

"Now what?" Heiriche snaps 

"Nothing..Sir...I've got a headache like you wouldn't believe and thinking makes it worse.." 

"Steve?? You're not gonna....." Frank looks over at his friend. "You don't...don't push it.." He states worriedly. "Its just a bunch of damn missiles. They're there thats enough for now. Don't screw yourself up thinking about this right now." 

"Lets do it." Steve replies determinedly. "It was almost dawn when we hit the entry point. There was no radar contact after we left Hong Kong's screen. The Chinese have got zero ground electronics in that area. Before we turned in there were some whales....Smitty wanted a picture..." He swallows hard but goes on. " I couldn't frame it in time out the window....We figured the same thing'd happen over the nodongs. So when we got near a target he'd overfly it for the video then turn the plane upside down and I could shoot out the canopy.The first shot is the target area with nothing there. Sir?? Did they come out OK??" 

Relieved by the sudden change in attitude Heinriche leans over forwards with his head down for several seconds. _Good. At last he's thinking like an agent. Thank God!_ "Just fine Steve." He replies encouragingly. In fact..." Reaching into the pile of photos he pulls out one and drops it in Steve's lap."Here's your whale." 

"Really? I thought I missed it." He glances briefly at the gray fuzzy square and hands it to Frank."I'll take your word that's what it is Sir." 

"Well. It's a little out of focus and part of the wing is across the top. But the important ones are perfect. Go on." 

"Well. The photos of the nodongs in Nampo were real enough I figured the intel couldn't be that far off the mark. So we decided to go up the mountains first to look around." 

"OK. You're in the copilots seat. So up would be a right turn." 

"Oh yeah." Steve smiles at the revelation. "Hey this is gonna work!" 

_If he's determined to do this then the least I can do is help him_"Steve?" Frank leans over slightly. "Do you know how fast you were going?" 

"Low and slow. About 250 300." 

"Allright!" He hastily shoves an ice cube towards Steve."Reward." and whips a sliderule out of his pocket. "Time by speed equals didtance." 

"OK!" He grins. "It took us a couple of hours of mountain bouncing till we came to what I thought was a silo...turned out to be just a village." 

"Lieutenant?" Heinriche grabs his map excitedly. 

"Around 780 miles Sir." 

"Yes!" Heniriche looks up from marking on his map throws it on the bed and leaping out of the chair he grabs Steve by the shoulders causing him to scream as Frank quickly shoves him back."Sorry!" He replies excitedly. "802 miles from point alpha there's a place called Goduk. Little village my ass Son! That was a silo under construction." 

Frank quickly intercepts the proferred picture before Heinriche can pull it back. "I'll be damned.." He lets out a low whistle. "Steve..The well in the center. That's a silo allright if I've ever seen one. From now on you take all our travel photos." 

"That good???" He grins. "A few minutes later we came to a canyon and went down it. Sir? If ups a right turn then down is...a left turn??" 

"Thats why you were in the top five." Evershall reaches over and messes up Steve's hair. "Forget all that calculus I beat into your head...Its right and left turns that'll get you admirals stars." 

"Frank." He half smiles. "I think I did forget it. Right after finals." Starting to hyperventilate he closes his eyes as the room begins to spin. 

"Steve. Drop it right here." Frank worriedly orders."Its not worth it to screw yourself up again. Eventually it'll all come back." 

"Come back...I wish it would go away. Everything's still there just there's no reference points. You remember 2nd class year survival course when we were on our way to 29 Palms and the plane decellerated abruptly and we were floating in the back?" 

"If I recall you crashed into the back of Sgtmjr Peters chair and broke your nose." Frank teases. "But you were the only one in the platoon, including Sarge, not to throw up." 

"Yeah. Well I'm making up for it now." Steve retorts. 

"Gentlemen please." Heinriche interjects." He's right Son. I don't want to hurt you. General location. Those monkies from Langley can compare the photos with the old Flying Tiger maps. Mountains don't change shape that fast." 

"I'm going to finish this." Steve states firmly. "We went down the canyon maybe 15 minutes and man they were everywhere!. I don't think I got them all they just kept coming." 

"Iron Warrior Gorge.......60 miles left Commander." 

"Yeah. Smith made a crack about them still being in the Iron Age. This is actually working!" He grins triumphantly. _Best behind the lines amn the Navy ever trained _When we're done I deserve a beer Frank. 

"_You deserve alot more than that. But you'll never get it from this yoyo._ "Forget it. Water makes you puke remember." Frank reminds 

"Son you deserve a hell of alot more than that." Heinriche replies warmly, surprising himself with the verbalization of his feelings. I don't think even that star's enough for having the balls to get back from up there." He waits a few minutes then begins again in a matter of fact manner. " OK. Back to business theres still a couple thousand miles to go." 

"Yes Sir." Steve replies tiredly. "We followed the canyon. Took us almost 4 hours to get through. Kept having to hop over little mountains. Each time we found a side canyon we'd go down it a ways just over the deck. I swear we scraped some of the rocks. When we finally came to the big valley at the end all hell broke loose. They fired all kinds of stuff at us. Antiaircraft guns. Everything they had I think. Some kind of a ground missile almost wiped us out. There's a base in there Sir. The radar came alive when we climbed up to get away from the missile. We cooked it but I guess not before they radioed our position someplace. There were two canyons off the valley. Mine looked bigger so we took it. Right turn Sir?" 

"Yeah Son." The Old Man laughs. "Right turn. Uhm...Dragon Tail Gorge." 

Once we got inside it was filled with missiles. I ran out of film before we got to the end. Next thing I knew a couple scout planes were on our port wing. We splashed them and decided it was getting a little too hot so we went up and headed...." 

"Right turn would put you heading in the direction of where that chink says you crashed." 

"Next thing I knew there were MIGS all over us. Shot down a couple 17's.....We started spinning....." Holding on tight to the rail Steve's knuckles start to turn white. "FRANK!" 

_I knew this would happen. Never would listen......Stubborn Irish fool._ Evershall thinks as he tries to shove an ice cube between the clenched teeth."Damnit it's not working!" He glares angrily across the bed at Heinriche. "I hope you're satisified!" He hisses. 

Yelling something which was unintelligable to the captain and flailing around trying to get loose from Franks grip Steve kicks out an IV. "Don't start in again with the Korean Steve!The war's over you want to cuss me do it in English." Evershall orders trying to reorientate his friend. "Quit it!" Frank commands regrabbing Steve's arm before he can punch him. "Before you hurt yourself. Come on!" In a panic Evershall jerks the sunglasses off and tosses them on the chair. "Look at me! I know it hurts but open your eyes and look at me.! 0 degrees uprange 2 feet. You're OK I've got ahold of you. You're not falling anyplace!" As the muscles in his grasp suddenly tighten Evershall looks down to see his friend turning blue then suddenly begin to twitch uncontrollably. "Captain!" He screams in fear. 

"I'm on it!" Heinriche yells from the doorway. 

"Whats.." Saprestien asks entering behind the running Heinriche. "Oh God. Not again." He quickly rushes to the corner grabs a a syringe from the cart and injects the IV tubing. A few seconds later seeing that his patient had calmed he looks up at the hovering officers. "IV valium. He should be out all day. Go home!" 

Heinriche grabs ahold of the MDs wrist as his eyes bore into the smaller Md's. _Oh Lord I hope that wasn't what I think it was. Who says the book is always right. I should have told him about the pentathol. _"What the hell was that!" 

Dr Saprestien eyes fire as he glares up at the captain."Get your hands off me SIR!" Flexing his fingers a few times against the grasp the doctor suddenly flips his hand over jerks free of the restraint, pulls the Captains arm up behind his back in an arm lock and shoves him across the room. Heinriche lands on top of Steve and slides down to the floor as the folders laying on top of the bed fall on top of him. Relaxing out of the karate tiger stance the MD quickly regains control. "That gentlemen was a grand mal seizure. Pretty bad one too. What was going on?" 

"We were talking..." Frank answers still anxious from the preceding events. "Doc he was doing really good..had all his right and left turns perfect...then all of a sudden he just sarted freaking out like before....then he turned blue....." 

"Allright. Relax. " He slaps Frank on the back reassuringly. "This is the first time he's relived the crash while he's coherent. I'm hoping thats what set it off. He's going to be out until this evening. I want to run another EEG which means all of Capelli's orthopedic series'll have to be done too. He'll be down there most of the afternoon." Saprestien pats Franks's elbow encouragingy. "It's going to be all right. Why don't you go home." 

"Nah." He looks over at his sleeping friend." I'm staying. Least till they take him down." 

In a slight daze, Heinriche slowly gets up from the floor and carefully bends over to pick up the map he's been marking on."I'm going to call Washington." He snaps as he glares icily at the doctor and growls "I"LL BE BACK!" 

As the door closes behind the senior officer Frank begins to laugh hysterically."Oh man Doc..." He collapses into the chair still laughng. "It's too bad you knocked him out. Steve would have enjoyed that move." 

"I lost it." Saprestien shakes is head in disgust at himself. "I never should have done that. All this check and countercheck password stuff. Its ridiculous. These espionage guys frustrate me." 

"Hey. I liked it." Frank grins reassuringly."Steve would have loved it. Probably teach you a couple more if you wanted. He's in to that tae fu stuff seriously. Taught me a couple things but I'm too uncoordinated for all that". 

"Really?" The physician asks in awe. "For a Westerner to be a Dan. Its darn near impossible. How did he do it?" 

"More of that spy stuff he won't tell me." Frank says. "All I know is he met one of the masters and brought the guys family down out of North Korea. He spent the rest of the war studying with him. There's a kind of dance thing-its got 156 movements to it. Beautiful thing to watch. He does it every morning before he runs. I can't get past step 18. Where'd you learn it?" 

"Learning Frank." He corrects. "You forget where we live? Karate started in Japan. Hadrian and I voluneer at a clinic in Tokyo. One of the techs is teaching me." 

Really??" Frank responds not knowing that the majority Western martial artists have some kind of medical background. 

When Heinriche returned from his call to the Pentagon he observed that Frank had restacked the folders and photos neatly on top of the crash cart much to his disliking since he knew the engineer had probably looked at each classified one. The annoying technomonkey was sitting quietly staring at his sleeping friend and picking at his cuticles. Ultimately Heinriche decided there was nothing he could do about the security breech since he himself had obtained clearence for Evershall to dismantle the Chinese aircraft. Feeling the tension in the room increase Heinriche reluctantly sits in the chair across the bed from Frank. After several anxious minutes he finally asks. "How's the MIG project coming along Lieutenant?" hoping to lession the anamosity between them. 

"OK I guess Sir." Frank responds reluctantly. "Be alot easier if I had the spec manual they found on top of Steve. I'm afraid to do much more than airflow tests on it and flip the switches till I know whats what. Maybe if I could have the pilot for a few hours at least." 

_Good. Maybe if I give him something he'll come around_ "That's not possible I'm afraid. But I can shake up those two guys doing the translating. Any particular part they should start with?" 

"Well....the engines don't appear radically different than ours. If I had the wiring schematics the rest could come as its done." 

"Done." Heinriche states slumping down in his chair. "You'll have them day after tomorrow at the latest."_ I definately did the right thing keeping this guy here. Even if he is a rebelious pain in the butt. Geez. He's worse than McGarrett in some ways._ "You know...." He ventures. "Steve's lucky to have a friend like you." 

"Yeah." He glances over at the bed."We've been together a long time. I-Day they lined us up next to each other. We were roommates the entire four years. Plebe summer he kept me from quitting and I kept him from shooting his mouth off at Lt Hamilton. He and Paul were Elite Fleet and since I roomed with them alot of it wasn't as rough for me as it was for the rest of the guys. The Blessed 88; I didn't know a thing about football till I met Steve. Baseball, I managed to make the team each year with him." Leaning back in the chair he laughs. "Youngster cruise.....that was a laugh...Jungle training in Panama. He saved my life down there. We got caught in a geuilla war. Oe minute we were walking along trying to figure out where we were, next I found myself at the bottom of a gulley. I looked up and Steve was sliding down after me. Bullets were flying over our heads. We didn't even have a flare gun let alone anything useful to fire back with. The bastard was peppering us with a machine gun! Steve pulled me up top behind a banyon tree and took off after the guy before I could stop him. Not too much later he was back with the rifle and it looked like he beat the crap out of the jerk. To this day I don't know what happened up in the hills but all Steve had to do was look at the guy and he started shaking. Sargeant Major Peters yelled at him for over an hour for that. Then reccommended him for a commendation. We never did figure that one out." _What are you telling this bozo all this for?_ Frank realized and abruptly quit talking. 

"He's my best agent." Heinriche volunteers hesitantly, unsure of how to express himself. "I've seen alot of guys come through over the years. Some were competent. Most were good. But McGarrett's got talent. I can't describe it exactly..he can spot the tiniest little detail and blow a case wide open. I mean alot of guys think on their feet but he thinks on the run. I hate this." Heinriche admits,feeling curiously relieved at the expression. "I sent him up there..if he doesn't come back..... _Why don't you tell him that. Open up I lose control. Quickest way to lose a command is loss of control. All my men I thought were...DON"T THINK ABOUT THAT NOW! At least you know one of thems still loyal to his country..._

Frank leans his chair back down. "He'll be back. He loves all this cloak and dagger crap too much. He survived Korea he'll get through this." Another glance at his sedated friend brought the horrors of the past month back in a full force assault on his mind. _He's got to make it. I don't think I can lose another brother like this._

"I see you were in Korea-not exactly an engineer's war." Heinriche states trying to keep the conversation going and finding it oddly comforting to talk to the Lieutenant. "How did you get a PUC?" 

"That was Steve's fault too."Frank chuckles."Every year five of us get together..well four now....in December. 1950 Paul's CO would only let him go for three days and we needed those for Steve's birthday party in Tokyo. The rest of us had ten days so we went to him, a major mistake on our part." 

"Christmas of '50....you were at Chosin Resavoir?? Holy....." Heinriche exclaimed remembering that an intestinal virus luckily had kept him in Seoul at that time. _Maybe this guys not so bad after all_

"Tell me about it!"Frank exclaims, " We were sitting in a foxhole trying to keep from freezing to death laughing at Dave's stupid jokes." Noting that the tension in the room had dropped drastically with the Chosin revalation Evershall decided to continue with the story. "Next thing I knew all hell was breaking loose and bombs were landing all around us. The Chinese were blowing those nasty little bugles at us. Steve dragged us out on a reconnisence behind the Chinese lines. We found a couple of colonels in a wrecked jeep and grabbed them and their maps. Our artillery shifted and the Chinese turned tail. Our sector was the only one not overrun. When it was all over I found a bullet stuck in my helmet liner. Damn near had a heartattack. Steve might like it on the edge but I DON'T. " 

Later that evening Heinriche returns to the room and finds Frank standing in the corner staring at a chessboard sitting on top of the cart. "Interesting problem." He observes. "Sacrifice the white knight and...." The captain removes the plastic horsehead and repositions the four remaining pieces on the board. "You've got checkmate in two moves." Crossing to the other side of the room he collapses into the chair. "How are things Lieutenant??" 

"Quiet." Frank replies standing in at ease position. Glancing at Steve he retorts."Too quiet." 

"Relax Lieutenant." Heinriche tries to sound reassuring. "That little jackass of a doctor said he'd be out for a while." 

"Yeah." Frank snaps back. "About a month Sir!" 

"OK Lieutenant. Fine go ahead and blame me if you want. God knows I've held myself responsible long enough." Heinriche challenges. "Here." He tosses a looseleaf notebook onto the end of the bed. "I brought you something." 

Picking up the book hesitatingly Frank sits in his chair and begins to study the pages pausing at certain points to study the diagrams. As Frank begins to calm down Heinriche apologises for bringing only the schematics of the landing gear and electronic control of the doors but promises to hurry up the two CIA agents translating the manual. The two men slowly come to an understanding of each other and are playing with the chess set on the overbed table when their concentration is interupted by the question."Who's winning?" asked very quietly. 

"Who do you think!?" Frank teases. "How are ya?" 

"The way you play...probably him...." Steve replies playfully as Heinriche,even though he was losing badly to Frank,bites his tongue to keep from laughing. "I take it...something happened...?" 

"You keep this up you ARE going to break all of them. Maybe I should just whack you and get it overwith." 

"Come on...." Steve replies impatiently. "What....the heck happened..." 

"I warned you not to do this. When are you ever going to listen..." 

"FRANK!"He snaps in frustration instantly regretting it as the name reverberates in his ears. 

"OK OK. You freaked out again. Its.." He glances at the wall clock then down at his watch finding them to be the same Evershall stretches his tired muscles. "20:24. You allright?" 

"Yeah.I guess...just tired."Steve replies. 

"Thats the drug they gave you. Go on back to sleep." Frank explains. 

_Sleep....per chance to dream..._ "I had a wierd dream. Paul again...Chosin." 

"No.We were talking about that earlier. You probably heard us." Frank replies reassuringly."Relax. You aren't going anyplace till you're 96 and croak in some 70 year old bimbo's bed."Evershall quips. 

"You believe in ghosts Frank?" Steve asks seriously. 

"Only on Halloween." Frank answers jokingly. 

"I mean it. Seriously. We both were at SgtMjr Peters funeral. You saw what was left of the car they pulled him out of. What was it 20 or 30 traincars derailed. They evacuated half of Crabtown because of the cloud." 

"Stupid drunken teenagers."_ If he hadn't of been trying to pull them out of the car he never would have gotten killed. He was a sycophantic martinet but he didn't deserve to die like that_ Evershall utters involutarily. "Lousy way for us to have to ship out of there." 

"Yeah." Steve nods slightly in agreement. "Hell he's in the academy cemetery I watched the box go down. But I swear to you he was as real as you and me right now." 

"You should have punched him to make sure."Evershall teases trying to lighten the conversation. "God knows he gave you four years worth of reasons to do it." 

"Frank. I'm serious. Him, Paul and that jackass Hamilton. They were there." 

"Steve. You got whacked in the head it messed up your reasoning. You heard what Doc said. Now stop all this metaphysical crap." 

"There are more things in heaven and earth Horatio." Steve retorts and then blinks several times. "Did we at least get the nodongs?" 

"Yeah Son." Heinriche starts to shake him and quickly pulls his hand back. "We got them. 126 according to the pictures probably alot more than that. Washington thinks at least the ones in Dragon Tail Gorge are MIRVs which increases the number exponentially. A group of analysts have taken up residence in our section plotting precise locations. Now they know where to look they should be out of there by the end of the week." 

_There's not enough room for us let alone guests..._ "Sir. You didn't give them my desk did you?" 

"No Son."Heinriche laughs. "I didn't. They're in the crypto room....griping about the quarters." _Your desk has become the trash dump for unwanted files. I'm going to have to get Chief to clean that up before you find out about it _"The Air Force is sending a missile technician to ask you a few technical questions. But that can wait until you're stronger. Believe you me I'll see to that!" He promises._ That's about all I can do for you. Keep the vultures at bay._ "Go back to sleep." 

"Sir? What happened to Dak?" 

_Dak?? What the hells a dak?? _"The commie you brought back?? Washington's got him. Snatched him right out from under me....Steve?" He asks hesitatingly. "For my own satisfaction....that little chinks not the one who shot you?" _Don't..._ "Hey. Hey." The captain shoves Steve back down in the bed. "Enough of that. Just relax. Neither of us can take much more of this. Besides..." The older man grins.."Your ice cubes melted hours ago." 

"Infantry squad...." He answers trying to right himself. "I think I...got the one...but I guess ...he got me too...damn....Sir. I want him to stay." 

"Commander the State Department has him. Its out of our hands now." 

"Captain." Steve insists. 

"He has been a little goldmine of information." Heinriche rationalizes. "If you'd have seen the pile of books he dumped in your lap Commander you'd have been speedreading all the way to Tokyo." 

"I doubt that Sir." Steve replies weakly. 

"Practically emptied out Mao's library. Those sailors had to dig you out from underneath a ton of prime intel stuff. I'd ask a question and he'd answer three others. Only thing he wanted back was an old beat up English textbook." 

"You did give it to him I hope.." 

"Wasn't much in it. Couple pictures of some people I think were probably his family and his pilots certification. I slipped it in his cell the night before they took him to DC. First night I had them make a steak dinner for him. He ate the steak but gagged on the potato..had to send out for rice. You know what the little fool loves. Red jell-o!" The old man laughs at the thought."Couldn't get enough of it. For a commie he wasn't such a bad guy. I don't know if it'll do any good. But if you want.....I'll call Washington in the morning...... Commander??" Waiting for a response Heinriche looks down at the sleeping agent then over at Evershall. "He's had it for the night. Lets go Lieutenant. I think the officers club is open for another couple of hours."  
  



	4. Chapter 4

The Journey Home   
part 4   
  
The Journey Home part four  
  
Early Early the following morning a petite blonde female petty officer enters the room "Steve!" She exclaims running towards the bed "Oh thank heavens you're allright" Noticing the bruising amd numerous wires and plastic tubes she stops abruptly. "If I hug you ...will I hurt you??" She asks apprehensively 

"Carefully" He replies trying to sound casual and slowly raises his arm slightly. 

She grabs him around the neck and kisses him as he tries to keep his head from spinning."I've been so worried about you"

Frank looks over at him and up at the 23 year old petty officer whose uniform fits her buxsom curevacous frame like a wetsuit. _He's got a whole harem_ "Hey buddy...who's this?" Evershall asks as he unconciously sucks in his stomach and smooths down his brown hair.

"Oh sorry. Lauri Winters. My secretary. Lauri-Frank Evershall 

"You lucky dog you. Oh you do really suffer don't you." Frank punches him playfully. "You know what I got for a secretary...a fifty year old bald guy"

"Steve, what's wrong?" Lauri asks as he starts to cry.

"Nothing honey...just when I laugh it hurts like hell. Please no blonde jokes OK?" He smiles at her. "I'm surprised you're here though. Heinrich'd have to fly over to find out about the nodongs but how'd you get to Tokyo?" 

Lauri stares at him, a dozen horrible scenarios playing in her head _'He seems oriented OK..What's going on here? Not like Wally before he died. _"Steve. What are..?" She bites the inside of her cheek to keep from crying. "I've never been to...Steve we're at Pearl. Are you sure you're allright?"

"WHAT!"He yells and looking up too quickly he grabs the rail "Frank???" He asks trying to adjust to the idea he's not in Japan.

"I thought you knew." Frank apologises for neglecting the obvious. "Steve-I'm sorry. You weren't in Tokyo probably 36 hours or so when they medivaced you over here. All that spy stuff I suppose. I don't know why."

"Then how did you..." He asks trying unsuccessfully to assimilate the new information.

"I rode over in the plane with you and Doc Sapriesten. They temporary transferred him and Drs Hadrian and Capelli here. The two nurses went back after a week. They flew over last weekend to check up on you. They call every day for an update as it is."

"You're kidding??" 

"No. The tower controllers call me every day too. Steve you scared the living hell out of all of us. Those guys have never even seen you before and when I told PO Rabicki you were awake he started crying. Docs a celebrity back there now for saving you. From what I've seen he did a heck of a job. Before you ask ..I didn't much care what was said I just came over. A few days later your boss told me somebody was flying the MIG over here for 'security reasons' I've got the job of tearing it apart. Just started a few days ago. The pilots have all been flying it around. Didn't leave me much to do but hang around here. And sneek your girlfriend in."

"Kathy? Was here???" He asks incredously. "How did...

"Yeah. The night you came to. You don't remember that? Steve she was here for hours. You talked to both of us." Frank asks repeating the conversation in hopes of striking a memory

"NO. The tickets yeah. I had them for weeks. Stuff that happened years ago I can tell you. Things I hadn't thought about in forever.But what happened an hour ago no way."

"That's only a temporary thing. I'm sure." Frank reminds trying to sound reassuring and failing miserably at it."You heard what the doctors said."

"Did I? God I hope you're right." Steve sighs."Grandpa Fennedy stayed with us before he died. I must have been 8, 10 at the most. He helped me with my homework every night. I had to do a project about the civil war. He could name off every battle, who the generals were, which regiments fought which and where. He knew the dates for every Fennedy in the New York Volunteers but he didn't know what he had for lunch."

"Steve that's a whole different situation." Frank tries to explain but in the back of his mind wonders if it really is."He was old. Thats a normal thing."

"Yeah." He retorts. "If this is what old age is like. Then my 65th birthday I'm putting a gun to my head." Steve replies with mock seriousness then adds hastily."Well maybe 70th. I do want to retire someday."

"Never happen to you." Frank teases relieved that the melodramatics were over. He knew his friend could be very moody and with exagerated personalty traits he really wondered if he was going to be able to stand the temporary McGarrett. "You'll be having too much fun leaching after the widows in the old folks home." 

"Me? A leach??" Steve replies pretending to be innocent.

"Yes you." Lauri teases back. "You and every other guy in the section. Every time I walk through there I feel a dozen sets of eyes leering at me."

"We aren't leering." He replies defensively knowing he had done his share of looking over the top of a folder when she walked past his desk.

No? Then what did you call it when you fell off your chair looking around the corner my first day."

"Appreciation of the aristic form." He grins and then returns to interrogating Frank about how he got Kathy past the guards. 

"The SP's looked the other way when I told them who she was. Steve, everybody thought you weren't gonna pull through. They were being nice. Don't go quoting regs on them."

_'I'll be I never thought anybody gived a damn about me'_"Wow....I wish I remembered that."

"Yeah you should. She calls me two or three times a day. Shes a wonderful woman. You're a lucky guy there ..she really cares about you."

"Think you could get her in again?" Steve asks hopefully.

"I don't know. Probably be easier to get you out...._Uh Oh I think I just gave him an idea. Better nip this in the bud._ ...and we know that's not happening."

Lauri opens her briefcase and takes out a thermos container "I made your favorite punch last night"

He opens his eyes wide bites his lip and smiles "The guava passionfruit???" 

"Yes."She answers reaching over and grabbing straw."Mangos from the trees up in Waimea. Larry and I went hiking again Saturday. I'm really starting to like him."

"Told you. Is he still on the DMZ?"

"No. He rotated back to Schoffield couple weeks ago."

"Good. But don't believe everything he says about me" Steve chuckles grabbing at the straw as Frank pushes his arm back down reminding him that anything more than ice cubes makes him nauseous.

"What difference does it make? If I turn my head too fast I puke so why not for something worth it??? Besides that's what the shots are for. If I'm going to be poked anyway I might as well get something for it. I had one mother. That's enough I don't need another one.  
  
Late in the evening a deep tanned aviator arrives at the hospital only to be stopped by the security guards outside Steve's door. A loud arguement ensues which attracts the attention of a linebacker looking MD coming out of the elevator."What is the meaning of this? I will not have a disturbance in this hospital!"He yells assuming a blocking stance.

"And just who are you?" The aviator retorts still trying to get free of the two seamen restraining his arms.

"Dr Hadrian. Consulting neurologist. And this circus is liable to upset my patient if it gets any louder."

"If Steve's your patient then I assure you I won't be upsetting him. Call off your goons doctor." The pilot orders.

"They aren't my goons to call off." Hadrian replies with a glare at the two seamen."Unfortunately."

"Look I just flew in here from Crete. " The pilot states firmly. "I'm tired,I'm hungry,I have no idea what time zone I'm in or what day it is for that matter and right now you are standing between me and the remaining 73 hours I have to spend with the best friend I've ever had.I'm not in the mood to play games with any of you."

"Very well." Hadrian replies."Lt Evershall is down the hall. If he knows you."

"Frankie! Hike your tail down here Mister! Chop-chop!" The pilot yells at the top of his lungs as the two seamen let go of his arms and step aside from the doorway.Seeing his opportunity Reggis dives under the arm of the guard and into the darkened room. 

"No." Hadrain orders pulling John's hand off the lightswitch as he explains the situation.

Staring down at his sleeping friend John sinks to the floor sitting on his helmet." My God! I can't....I've seen guys hit the carrier deck. They're either dead or worse...." Leaning forwards he runs his fingers through his black curly hair. "My first wingman....crashed outside of Kwangju. He's in a VA hospital in Florida. I saw him once..he doesn't even know his name....I..That happens to Steve I...."

"Relax. Unless he would by some rare chance throw a clot that's not going to happen here." Hadrian reassures "When he's awake he's perfectly alert. Aside from the vertigo his short term memory's off but that is to be expected for awhile. We had to sedate him for the EEG so I don''t think he'll be awake tonight."

"Where is Frank anyhow?" John asks looking around in distress.

"I'm sorry for the deception. But I wasn't sure what was going on. I saw him leaving half an hour ago. I think he's staying at the commander's apartment. Why don't you go get some sleep, talk to Lt Evershall. Things will look alot better in the morning."

" I don't..." Reggis answers shakily."This can't be happening...Like this.Yesterday my fiancee agreed to marry me. Crazy fool that I am I took off,unauthorized of course, for Crete to call and ask Steve to be my best man. Frank answered I... After the ass chewing Captain gave me 96 hours. Said he didn't have the heart to turn down my request. Didn't matter I would have been here if I had to UA."

"If he does wake up I'll have the nurses call you." The MD, wondering about the intensity of the friendships here, promises.

Early the following morning the two officers return. Saluting smartly the two seamen step away from the door smiling at Reggis.. Caught momentarily off guard by the degree of bruising John grabs Frank's arm. Pulling Reggis arm off his Frank slaps him on the back reassuringly.

"So who's the girl?" Steve asks quietly.

Reggis stares back in shock.

"I told him." Frank explains."So far its the only piece of new information that's made it inside that thick Irish skull."

"Not as thick as you think." Steve retorts

"Obviously." Reggis agrees heartened by the quick comeback. "Frank explained what happened. That's got to be frieghtening. I got lost in the fog over the North Atlantic once,completely upside down, I was diving and thinking I was climbing. Last thing I remember doing is hiting the autopilot. I tell you I learned the meaning of rule # 1 that night." At the pair of confused looks he adds ."You've got to believe the instruments."

"But what if its wrong?" Steve asks

"Thats rule #2. If you think its wrong see rule #1." Reggis laughs.

"Yeah. But what if its really wrong?"Steve insists.

"Then they call it pilot error and bury you quickly." He states seriously."Hey! FBI." John exclaims. "Steve it just might work for you."

"What do I want with the Bureau. They're a bunch of incompetent bozos."

"Not the FBI. Flying By Instruments. Thats just what we call it. Think about this. Physics 101, if your feet are on the floor then your heads got to be 180 up. Few degrees either way and you'd hit the deck."

"Sounds good. but doesn't mean a thing when the world's spinning." Steve replies.

"Exactly. Its simple. If you know where you are then all you need to do is keep track of the movements. We'll point you in the direction and you go."

"That's ridiculous." Frank dismisses.He gets turned around in the bed."

"If we point him enough times. He'll figure it out."

"Yeah and he'll puke for sure long before that.

"Now that could be bad." Reggis replies apprehensively, remembering the time he babysat his nephew and the infant spit up on his dress blue jacket. "Steve you eat anything yet?"

"This is dangerous." Frank protests."You could end up hurting him further."

"So's crossing the street." John retorts getting up in Frank's face. "Evershall you're always Mr Safe. Come on. All we have to deal with is the IV. He starts turning blue we'll put the oxygen back on for awhile."

"No Way!" Frank protests more intesely as he shoves Reggis back.

"I hope you guys aren't expecting me to break you up this time." Steve quips at the perpetually battling friends.

"Steve. You decide." Reggis states backing down. "Either way is OK by me."

"Steve. It'll never work." Frank insists."The minute you sit up you'll pass out."

"Not like I haven't done that before." Steve sighs then asks resolutly."OK John. What do I do?"

"McGarrett one day that cavalier attitude is going to get you killed. What if he whacks his head again Reggis. You think of that.?"

"No. I didn't. "John admits reluctantly.Scanning the room he sees the helmet he'd left the night before. "Perfect." He grins picking it up off the cart. 

"I still don't like this." Evershall states as he reluctantly takes down the IV.

As he begins to sit up Steve suddenly spirals forwards into a multicolored whirrling kalidoscope. "What the hell!" Reggis exclaims pinning him down. "Don't throw yourself on floor."

"See I told you. That's what happens."

"Shut up Frank." Steve snips.

"OK. That's what happens when you believe what you are seeing. I know its hard but you have to ignore all that. You know Frank and I would never do anything to hurt you. No matter what you think is happening listen to what we are telling you. Where are you right now?"

"UH.." Steve stalls trying to think logically and quickly gives up. "I...I don't know. I feel like I went down Alice's rabbitt hole." 

"Always the comic." John chuckles. "OK We start over. 2nd and 10." the aviator orders as he slowly pulls Steve upright. "Woah." he says pushing him back against Frank. "Not so far. You're doing good, at least not screaming anyhow.."

"Reggis he can't scream" Frank snaps glaring into John's dark chocolate eyes. "He just passed out."

"WHAT!"

"Are you quite finished now?" Frank yells as he carefully lowers their friend back down.P>I didn't count on this" John replies as he attempts to shake Steve awake."Maybe I was wrong...." He admits reluctantly.

"Well?" Steve asks 

"3rd and 10." Reggis answers hesitatingly

"OK. I can't drop back in my own endzone. Run the ball."

"Steve are you sure about this? Frank just might be right."

"What do I have to lose. Lets get on with it."

"Steve. Enough." Frank admonishes. "This was a stupid idea. You are liable to hurt yourself. Now come on, for once in your life be reasonable."

"Thats what we're talking about. My life. At this point I'll try just about anything. Reasonable or not." Steve states resolutly. "We go."

"OK." Reggis agrees. "Maybe if you keep your eyes closed."

"I can't spend the rest of my life in the dark."

"Steve. You're on the 99 yard line remember. Shut up and do what I tell you." 

Reluctantly Frank pushes him back up against Reggis. "OK you're up straight tilt your head back down." John informs as Steve leans down and goes over forwards against the aviator."No. just your head. Forwards till you can't feel the back of the helmet anymore."

"Well?" Steve asks staring up at the two officers."

"You didn't scream."

"Big deal." Steve retorts.

"You did OK for a second or two." John replies more out of reassurance than fact."Automatic down but no yardage. Not too bad for a morning's workout....considering." Putting the nasal cannula back in place he playfully messes up Steve's hair."Frankie's promised to put the plane back together. You rest and when I get done in the MIG we'll go at it again."  
  
"What is going on in here?!" Dr Hadrian teases. "Its loud enough to be a frat house in here." Seeing John grabbing ahold of his patient Hadrian shoves him against the wall."Just what in the hell do you think you are doing!!" The doctor demands.

"Hey Hey! Geez Doc" Reggis retorts slipping down and away from the neurologist."What were you fullback for Fordam U or something!"

"Actually left tackle, Texas A&M. But that is not the question."

"What year?" Steve asks suddenly intrigued.

"44-47. Missed the first season because of a torn ligament. Kept me out of the war though." Leaning against the bedside table the MD laughs."Or so I thought....till Korea came along."

"Really." Steve asks. "Varsity?? We played you guys. Trampled you in 47 if I remember correctly."

"Yeah that was a lousy year. We were 2 and 12 I think. Who did you play for?"

"Who else.." Steve chuckles. "Navy 45-49. quarterback."

Totally at a loss for words Hadrian drops into the chair next to the bed. "You're the fly!" He asks incrediously.

"Fly?" John laughs.

"That's what coach called him. Never landed in the same place twice or long enough to swat. But back to the original question Lieutenant. What do you think you are doing?"

"Just watch OK." John replies retrieving his helmet from the end of the bed. "Come on Fly." Reggis laughs at the new nickname which irritated his friend. Pulling Steve up and around to the edge of the bed holding onto him with one hand and fastening the helmet with the other. _ if you knew how ridiculous you look _ He grins still thinking about the Fly name."Keep your eyes closed."

"I can do it." Steve tries to protest.

"Most of the time." Reggis corrects. "You blow it, this guy'll be swatting me. Ready??"

After a few seconds Steve lets go of the edge of the bed and reluctantly gives a thumbs up signal.

"OK You are straight for takeoff. Go for launch." Reggis directs letting go of his arm "Steady on course?"

"So far." Steve answers.

"OK. 45 degrees." Reggis orders as Steve turns his head slightly to the right. "Good. Now 90. Back to 0 degrees." "270." Reggis directs noticing that the MD was watching intently. "Straight path Steve." John orders as Steve turns back from the left. "OK here comes the hard part. Pay attention Doc. Pull up, hard right."

"I'll be damned." Hadrian replies shaking his head in amazement as his patient stares up at the ceiling.

"Gear up." John reminds as Steve's hand heads toward the edge of the bed."You want to quit?"

"Yeah. Before I blow it."

"All right. Drop wheels. Where did you end up?"

"Uh....45 degrees. Nose up."

"Way to go!" John grins saluting. "Permission to land the craft. Sir."

"You did all this in 3 days Lieutenant." Hadrian praises as he replaces the nasal cannula. "I'm impressed."

"Steve's the one who did it. I just direct the flight. We had him up to 15 movements yesterday. And about 6 with his eyes open. I have to leave in." Reggis looks at his watch. "2 hours and 27 minutes. But Frankie'll keep up the flight schedule."

"I know we got off to a bad start." Hadrian states extending his hand. "But its been nice meeting you."

"Thanks. "John replies. "It was partly my fault. Too many time zones makes me cranky."

"You don't know the half of it." Steve teases. "First day we can hardly stand him."

"Oh very funny Commander Fly." John retorts. "At least I'm not running across the tarmac at the last second."

"Yeah. Because you're the pilot. The plane waits for you. Milkdud."

Incensed at the plebe nickname he hated and thought everyone had forgotten. "Just don't you be late for the wedding!" 

Several days pass by and Steve becomes less disoriented enough to sit up by himself. One morning he is sitting in the corner of the xray unit when a SP enters. "Sir" He salutes and hands him his sunglasses"Come with me"

Steve looks at him questioningly.

"Just out the back door Sir. Come on. The sun'll do you good" The teenage slender Hispanic seaman pushes him out to a secluded,and according to his reconnisence of the the area unused, garden behind the doctors parking lot and helps him into one of the deck chairs "Just sit there and don't move OK" Steve grabs the back of the seaman's shirt as the he turns to leave 

"Riveras what the hell's going on?" He demands.

Smiling the seaman salutes his watch supervisor. "Its a surprise Sir. You gonna be OK out here?? You're not sick or nuthin??? 

Steve leans back in the chair "No. I'm just...incredibly tired...its good to be outdoors though...thank you..."_'Oh great.A suprise.Now what? I hate surprises..They have a way of going off'_

"I'll be back in a little while. Gotta tell the nurses you're tied up. Don't go anywhere Sir" Riveras reminds as he heads back through the hedge towards the building.

The midmorning sun felt relaxing as it slowly warms his muscles lulling him into a light trance as a soft breeze blows in from the harbor carrying with it the familiar salty scent of the ocean combined with the acrid odor of diesel smoke. _One of the ships must be heading out tonight_ He rationalizes. Remembering his year aboard the destroyer Steve looks around at the plants and up at the fluffy white clouds as the scents combine with the fragarant flowers around him nearly overloading him with almost forgotten sensations. A flock of seagulls flies low over the parking lot on the other side of the bouganvillia bringing him back to reality with their screaching. _'Some MD's car just got bombarded_ He laughs to himself. _Fresh air! Never mind what Riveras is up to. Whatever it is..its worth it just to be outside. I can actually breathe out here. Wow! This is allright! If I'm lucky maybe he'll forget where he left me._ A ground squirrel scurries by with a macademia nut in its teeth. "Hey little guy. Where'd.." _The only nut trees on base are in the Fleet Admiral's backyard._ "You're a long ways from home. Yarddog." He muses at the midshipman term for squirrels._ We shoveled snow up to our beltbuckles back there. Wonder how many of the creatures wouldn't have made it if we hadn't of put out leftovers. This little guy lives in paradise and still buries his nuts like there's a blizzard coming. Strange_ As he is contemplating the wonders of nature a gecko falls off the palm tree and lands on the grass next to him. _Cute little things actually. And the government spends thousands of dollars every year on DDT to get rid of them. Somebody ought to market them on t-shirts or something. A whole new tourist thing_ He laughs _Deco Gecko maybe...People will buy anything if you sell it right._

Minutes later a jeep pulls up beside the hedge distracting him from the relative merits of pests as an economic commodity 

"Hey. You look good out here." Frank smiles as he drops into the chair beside his pale friend. "I can't stay too long. Some DC suits want to have a meeting with us." "Again!" He adds exasperatedly.

_OK. Here it comes. Whatever it is_ " Frank. What's going on?" Steve asks suspiciously. "I think I've been Shanghaied. _ well not exactly Shanghai but you were almost Guongdonged_ He half grins. "So to speak."

"Go with the flow." Evershall laughs. "These SP guys sure like you for some reason. The whole thing was their idea. I just came along to point out who...."

_ Oh...I thought..I.. I'd never see you again.._ Steve's thoughts fly rapidly as Kathy enters through the bouganvillia hedge. Excited he starts to stand up.

"Don't be an idiot." Frank admonishes pulling him back down by the left arm. "Stand up and you'll pass out.. Women don't like that. Trust me she didn't come out here to watch you sleep. Just sit there till the guy comes back to get you." Getting up to leave Evershall slaps his friends leg teasingly. I gotta go.Good luck buddy. But I doubt you're gonna need it." Winking at Kathy as he passes her in the hedge the scent of her cologne mixed with the flowers fills his nasal passages._ The way her hormones are raging. I hope she doesn't kill him. But man what a way to go!_ Frank thinks enviously as he climbs into the jeep._ Probably take the undertaker all day to get the smile off his face. _

Kathy runs the last 100 yards dropping her briefcase in the grass and leaping into his lap she wraps her arms around his neck. Steve bites his lip to keep from screaming as 140 pounds of excited female crashes into his shoulder. Letting go she stares at him with her deep turquoise eyes wide open despite the sun. "I've missed you so much!" She exclaims_ He looks OK. A little rough around the edges maybe. But a thousand times better than the last time...._ She thinks as a siren goes off in her head._ He's going to make it Kathy. You've got to decide if you want to keep him or not. NOW! Before this gets started_

"Come here." He whispers softly as he pulls her towards him kissing her gently once."I can't even begin to tell you all the little ways I've missed you." Forcing down his emotions as he lets her go Steve casually asks how she got past the extra security he knew had to be posted during an alert exercise.

Calming the conflicting emotions charging her brain Kathy laughs."Some security! No wonder the Japs got in here. Frank called me yesterday and told me what your friends planned." Picking up her attache off the ground and setting it on the table beside them. "I came in with a bunch of tourists to see the Arizona and they arrested me and brought me over here for questioning." She grins at the thought of being locked in a windowless room with him interrogating her."

"Well that's an origional idea." Steve grins running his fingers up and down her arm making a mental note to position a few more sentries in that section then hoped he remembered to do it.

"I've been hearing rumors." She states opening the briefcase and pulling out a small white takeout container. "That some committiee is going to put up a memorial. And you know how committiees are,they seem to take on a life of their own. Some guy was at the Bar Associaton meeting last month talking about it. Sounds to me like they plan on turning the entire island into a monument. Course we civilians who pay for it won't get in to see it but hey..." Carefully positioning the Chinese dumpling between her teeth she leans forwards coaxing him to bite the other end. 

"Yeah. I guess so." He answers swallowing the sausage. "So many people flocking out there to see it they almost have to do something. Light aircraft start circling at sunup. Unfortuntely my building's right on the flightpath. At least over here I'm getting to sleep past 04:30, Private charter boats run through the barracades all day. The brave ones like you drive right through the old gates. Its been getting out of hand lately. Most of them are very solemn but there's been quite a few jerks who just want to gawk. Those are the ones we've been detaining and making an example out of. Nobody would refuse families. Admiral Winters lets us use his barge to take them out. A couple from Iowa stopped me downtown last year, their son was a gunners mate.They were so nice about it Glen and I sailed them in from the yacht harbor then drove them around the base. I think Glen said he got a letter last month from them.

"What are they going to do?" She asks getting out another dumpling.

"What are you some kind of a red agent?" He teases biting her along with the sausage.

"Steve you're paranoid. Its been in the Star that the lands been declassified." She chides back biting at his neck.

"Demiliterzed." He corrects."I don't know. There's probably 6 dozen ideas. We ran clearence on a couple of architects right before...Hey!" He reminds, pulling her off his neck. "You make a mark I'm going to have to explain it." He grins wolfishly then starts chewing on her earlobes tenderly probing her ear eroticaly with his tongue knowing it was the one thing that she couldn't resist."There's even a group that wants to raise it. Weird thing of it is half of the Utah's out there too and nobody pays any attention to it

"Can that be done?" She asks incredously "So far down??"

"Sure easily. Its only a few hundred feet deep there. Part of her's still sticking up. All it takes is money. Look. I was almost a statistic once. Can we please change the subject?" He asks pulling one of the combs out of her hair. Annoyed that she is still curious he scoots up in the chair away from her and points over his right shoulder. "Quarter of a mile that way; you can't miss it. Just which one of us did you come out here to see me or the ship?"

"Now that's a silly question." She states laying her had carefully on his shoulder and runing her fingers through his hair. "A little long isn't it Sailor?"

"That's more like it." He whispers reaching under her blouse walking his fingers up and down her spine.

Alarm bells go off in Kathy's head again as the fingers move down one vertabrae on each pass causing the hair on her shoulders to stand up, her skin tingling with excitement. Seeing her lover barely concious had brought back all the painful memories of the last time she had seen her husband alive. Feelings she thought were buried as deep as Mike and just as cold ,suddenly erupting with the force of Kileua. Crying all night and bitching at Brenda all day, even a trip to Mike's grave, had brought her no closer to a decision. _ It is zero moment_ She thinks as she stares at the aviator glasses and knowing the intensity the steel eyes behind them had to be displaying. She was grateful to be spared that but could feel him looking through her.

"We're probably being watched you know." He reminds,oblivious to her dilema, as he carefully unhooks her bra.

Kathy looks up at the palm trees and the dense foilage surrounding them._ I don't see how in this jungle but..._"So what. You're the only horny sailor I care about."

Smiling he grabs her by the wrists flipping her onto her back effectively pinning her."Horny sailor!" He grins wolifishly. "Who started this."

_Forget it I can't wait_ She thinks as her nipples stand up in anticipation of the coming ectasy. Suddenly Kathy felt she was in some kind of a weird comic strip as the angel and cute little devil duked it out in the baloons over her head frame by frame. _You said you were going to go slow.What if you hurt him _ The angel admonishes.   
_He looks Ok. He'll say something if. No he won't Rats!"_ The devil replies giving the angel her due.  
_ Just pay closer attention_ The little devil continues.  
Angel's turn: _If you end up dumping him sex is just going to complicate things. If you're not sure its best to back off here till you make up your mind. _The little angel retorted sticking her tiny tongue out at the devil  
_ But its been 2 months. And he's good!_ The devil reminds jabbing her tiny pitchfork in Kathy's libido

"What's wrong?" Steve asks finally noticing her tenseness

" I..." Kathy stutters. "I'm not sure this is such a good idea. I don't want to hurt you."

"Hey. Its just my arm thats broken. The other parts are Ok." He responds hoping in the back of his mind that he is correct.

Another thrust of the tiny pitchfork. Kathy straddles across him and runs her hands up the back of his T-shirt and down the back of his shorts grinning back seductively at him she grabs a handful of gluteal muscle. "Maybe I had better make sure." She almost looses her balance as he moves her right knee over slightly."Honey. What's wrong? " She asks suddenly concerned that she had indeed done something to him. 

"Your knee was in the wrong place. I got shot in the back."

Buttoning the botom couple of buttons on her blouse Kathy sits up. "This isn't going to work." Flying overhead the angel pulls up the devils tail giving her a wedgie.

"Steve tries to pull her back _ Oh boy I hope I'm up to this_"Honey its not a big deal. Couple months I won't even notice it.

"Yeah it is." She continues. I drain all the blood out of your head and you'll pass out on me."

"Come on." Steve leans forwards to pull her back down and suddenly spins backwards knocking his head on the back of the chair.

"Steve!" Kathy yells as he starts to turn white. The tiny angel flies around waving her arms in victory

"I'll be OK in a minute." He assures her holding his head down with his eyes closed. "That statements truer than you realize. 

Frustrated at the angels unfair use of the injured lover as a tool the little devil jabs her pitchfork deep into Kathy's memories and twists it. Immediatey all of her emotions come to the surface crashing like waves against her conciousness. Sitting on the end of the chair her head begins to swim with thoughts as the angel and devil yell at each other over the bells and sirens._"How could I even think of giving him up. Such a dichotomy! He chased the guy who stole that little old ladies purse for 12 blocks and kicked the crap out of him all the way to the police station. I'd hate to think what he would have done to him if it'd been me that was attacked. And that makes him all the more exciting. He taught my womens law group karate..sorry tae kyon. It's all the same thing I don't know why calling it karate annoys him. Yet he swims with dolphins and taught me to scuba so we could go down together. The coral reefs..there's got to be a way to do it underwater. Tiger. He rescued him when the mother cat was killed. A bunch of sailors raising kittens in a Navy office..if the general had of known he'd flip! He said Tiger was named after him so he got to decide who got him. Mike would never have been sensitive enough to give me a kitten. He would have walked right past with his nose buried in a brief and never even saw them. But Mike was safe. He didn't fly off to China or jump out of a plane for 'fun' He didn't even drive over the speed limit. Steve never goes under it! I suppose danger and sensitivity are connected in some way. He's like a diamond-so many facets. Each way you turn it it's different somehow. I can spend the rest of our life together and still not know all the sides of him._  
"Shut up both of you!" she screams.

"Kathy who are you yelling at?" Steve wonders.

Looking up she realizes that her statement wasn't silent and he is staring at her quite concerned."Stupid squirrels." She replies sheepishly."All that chattering drives me nuts."

"Oh." Steve replies thinking he hadn't heard them but not sure if A: He had indeed passed out and there were 2 squirrels. Or far worse. B: there was something going on here that he wasn't emotionally ready for. Secretly he hoped it was the squirrels."I suppose they can be sometimes."

"I'm ... You're still not well you sure you don't mind my being here?"

_ it wasn't the squirrels....._"Mind?" He replies a bit insulted. "Why would I mind. You're the best medicine I can think of." Steve jumps at a sudden jab in his right upper arm."

"Steve?"

"I'm Ok." He replies banging a mosquito."He must have drilled deep. Felt like a pitchfork." Laughing he pulls her back down." Too bad his last meal was surgical steel." Stroking her thick hair he states quietly. "Kathy what evers going on we can deal with it." 

_"Unfair use of injured lover!"_ The little angel accuses seeing the advantage suddenly shift to the devil_ Kathy that lifetime could be two weeks!_ After the weeks of confusion her thoughts were suddenly clear._ Letting him go and knowing he was still here..so close...I couldn't stand that. It'd hurt more than losing him. As much as it hurt before I guess I can be a widow again. I've still got the black dress. Now there's a sick thought. You're burning that thing tonight! _

Ripping off her blouse and hurling it at the table she throws herself on top of him kissing him passionatly, her tongue disappearing down his throat."Best medicine huh? "She kneels across him wary of where she places her knees and leans over so that her brests are suspended just barely within his reach."Its therapy time! Take it like a man." She whispers enticingly.

Grabbing ahold of one with his right hand he tugs he down on top of him._Oh boy those range of motion exercises are never going to be the same now._ Rolling off she lays sideways against him. "How longs....it is a temporary thing...isn't it?" 

He turns over cautiously onto his right side facing her and pulls her towards him "God I hope so. Hell I couldn't even make it up to the bridge to jump off"

She grabs his arm. "Steve! Don't talk like that! EVER!!!" She pleads 

"What?" He replies then realizes how serious the casual statement sounded. "I didn't mean...I'd never. I didn't survive all this to do something stupid like blow my brains out." He wipes a tear out of the corner of her eye "Why're you...oh geez...your father...I forgot..." He runs his fingers through her long brown hair "Don't worry I'm not going anyplace" He playfully bites her earlobe "Besides with my coordination the way it is I'd miss for sure and take out a parakeet and those 2 squirrels that annoy you so much instead. Relax."

She reaches down and grabs the zipper on his shorts " I think....its going to be a little weird but...I think we found a way...you ready sailor...

"ANCHORS AWEIGH!" He replies confidently _I hope_

The crunching sound of tires on gravel startles Kathy awake.Still euphoric from the afternoon's love making,happily tucked under Steve's left arm she is content to stay still enjoying the moment until he wakes up. Noticing that the sun has moved to the other side she looks at her watch and lifting his arm off her she sits up. "Oh my God. Its 5:30!" Looking around for where her clothes ended up she shakes Steve awake.

"What" Exhausted from the days activity his subconcious replies "....honey not....maybe later..." 

"Wake up!"She slaps him lightly "The SPs are coming!"She states in a panic looking for her nylons.

"So..."He replies almost awake."I'm their superior...officer..."He explains drifting back to sleep. "Tell them....I said.... to go salute themselves...." 

"STEVE!" She shouts ripping off his sunglasses. "Wake up!" 

"Oh God! He screams jolting awake in the bright sunlight. "What!"He yells putting his arm over his eyes.

"Finally!" Kathy retorts back."Sorry." She says picking up his T-shirt off a hosta and giving back the glasses. "But its 5:30."

"Morning? How the..."

"17:30 for you." She informs zipping her skirt. Come on." 

"So?" He replies jokingly as he pulls her towards him. "Do you turn into a pumpkin or something?"

" Steve! Will you hurry up. Those guys'll be here any minute!" She orders searching franticlly for her right shoe.

"Huh?" He stares at her blankly for several seconds ._Oh yeah.._"Crap Riveras! OK" He zips his shorts and sticking his right arm in the sleeve quickly pulls his t-shirt over his head. Gritting his teeth he gets his arm back in the sling as the seaman comes around the corner saluting. "Afternoon Watkins" He manages to say through clenched teeth. 

"Sir." He acknowledges and picking up Kathys blazer and briefcase off the table. Winking he kicks the empty Chinese take out boxes under a bush. "Time to go Mam." He reminds. 

"I know." She replies reluctantly as she stands up."Bye Steve"She says kissing him quickly then pulls down the neck of his shirt and sucks a huge mark on his left clavicle. "Explain that one Sailor." She whispers. Heading towards the hedge Kathy turns her head back and leers at him. "You better get over this. I can't wait another 2 months!"

"Stay put Sir." Watkins informs. Alex'll be along in a little bit. He had to book a gilly-juiced submariner at the last minute. Couldn't get out of it. The guy plowed into the South guard post. Almost killed a Marine. Chef Morgan knew what we was up to he'd have our stripes."

Steve Starts to tell the seaman a humorous story about the Chiefs exploits in Korea then decides it would be better to leave the man's seaman intimidating facade intact. "Probably." He says finally then warns. "You don't get her out of here by 18:00 he's going to find out about it."

Overhead the tiny angel smiles at the devil. "Well. Another job well done. Blink you up a drink?"  
"Sure. Why not." The little devil replies polishing the blood off her pitchfork.  
Sipping her martini the angel laments "Why do I always have to play the practical hardass one?"  
"Because Betty Jean you're so good at it." The devil giggles blinking the duo out of Kathy's subconcious.  
  
When 17 year old seaman 3rd class Rieras arrives in the garden Steve is sitting on the end of the deckchair with his head down "How'd it go Sir?" He grins,thinking about his only trip to Hotel Street, saluting. "Sir?"He asks tapping Steve on the back."You allright?" 

"Huh?" Lost in trying to process the afternoon Steve jumps not expecting him so soon. "I'm fine. He answers, forgetting that he's not supposed to stand up, he gets up off the chair and promptly falls backwards as his head starts spinning. Seaman Riveras quickly shoves the wheelchair up behind him and unceremoniously pushes him down into it as he passes out. A moment later Steve wakes up wondering why the tiny seaman is staring intently at him through his coal black eyes. Assured that the commander is OK Riveras pushes him back into the building. By the time they arrive at the bank of elevators Steve is sitting up completely straight and aware of what's going on around him. "Riveras..." He states as the doors close. "Thanks.."

"De nada jeffe'". The Puerto Rican grins still wondering if this academy officer was BSing him about growing up 10 blocks from his parents house."You got to get over this Sir. Just remember." He reminds again."There was a screw up down in xray. You had to wait all day for them to fix it. My compadre has been telling the nurses that today. Don't forget OK." 

As soon as they get in the room Steve carefully climbs onto the spinnning bed and collapses. Watkins and Riveras look at each other worriedly. He looks like hell." The Hispanic seaman observes."You think we did the right thing??"

"Oh yeah!" Watkins laughs dismissing the commanders current exhausted state. "He'll be OK in the morning. Got his board waxed good. Thats one fine woman he's got." Seeing the teenager blush Watkins quickly changes the subject. "The 2 lieutenants are sparring tonight. You coming?"

"Yeah I guess." Riveras replies glad to be off the topic of women. A subject he knew very little about compared to the older sailors. That ought to be something to see."

"You never seen Lt Anderson fight? He gives the commander a good workout." Then remembering an altercation with the sometimes hypercritical JG in which Watkins was right. The seaman grins with anticipation. "Jenkins is going to get his butt whipped."

"That'd be good. I just don't wanna forget so much." Riveras replies.

"You forget and saubunim over there'll kick your butt good." He laughs pointing towards the bed. "Soon as he can stand up to do it."

"Oh yeah." Riveras retorts grabbng the taller man from behind in a choke hold. "Slow as you are. He could whip you now."

Amused by the antics of his newest students Steve opens one eye and grins at the pair. Don't count on it." He waves at them. "Go on. Get outta here."   
  
A large framed slightly balding nurse enters the room behind the exiting sailors."Uh hum" She clears her throat alerting him to her presence. "Commander what is going on?"She asks glaring at him intensely 

"Mam?"Steve asks waking up reluctantly to her impatient foot tapping and constant unblinking stare. "...what are you....._My God I've met KGB who were less scary_

"You have been MIA for 6 hours!" She barks in her best imitation of a drill sargeant."What do you have to say for yourself."

_Before you pronounce sentence_ Steve thinks as he sits up and grabs the rail._ Now I'm in for it. So. What ever she does to me its worth it_ "I haven't been any place but here" He replies trying to sound innocent 

She takes a carefully measured step closer towards him "And just what is your definition of the word here Commander?"

"Same as everyone elses." He responds

"There was no SNAFU in x-ray." She gives him a laser like glare which he felt burning into his retinas. "Not that took 6 hours to fix. With you being so kind as to hold the flashlight for some petty officer."

"That's what I was told. And its only a UA...MIA takes 72 hours for pencil and 30 days for ink." Steve counters "Punishment for that is a reprimand and confinement to quarters. You're allready yelling" Steve continues,thinking that he has her on the ropes. "Now then I will certainly be more than happy to go home and stay there for 48 hours. I'll even be a gentleman about it and drive. That is if you don't mind my being on both sides of the road.Your car or mine?" He adds as a coup de gras. 

Unphased by the 'knockout blow' she continues. "Why didn't they send you back up here then? Surely your leadership skills must have been tested fetching screwdrivers for some bozo from base maintainence." She quips

"How should I know." He replies frustrated that he isn't winning with this woman. I'm just the patient here. I do what everybody tells me to do."

"And I'm Tinkerbelle." She laughs. You've been a ..

"Pain in the butt?" Smiling Steve finishes her sentence.

"Since you woke up!!" She replies exasperatedly then continues. "So far you've missed 2 pain pills 

"I'm Ok really" He replies convincingly.

"And 1 antibiotic not to mention the Scopalamine"

"The what??" He asks trying to remember the names of all the medications and thinking he was doing pretty well to know his own name.

"Scopalamine. Its a tranquilizer." She explains

"Oh. Well I definately don't want that." He teases

"In its regular dosage." She informs moving in for the kill." We were using it each time you had to go to another department to sedate you enough that you weren't aware of the movement. Somebody noticed that after you came around from that you weren't sick for a couple of hours. So Dr Hadrian cut the doseage to a quarter and thats whats keeping you from being dizzy. One of the nurses who gets seasick on her boyfriends boat tried it and it worked for her too. We might be on to something. If I were you Commander I'd buy some stock now...before word gets out. Burroughs Pharmacuticals." 

Tightening his grip on the rail he looks up at her with his best interrogating the enemy agent icy glare. "I'm OK"

"I can see that Commander." She replies unphased. "Let go of the rail." She orders taking another step towards him and crossing her arms. " I'm guessing." She continues. "But right now I'll bet there's at least 2 of me and we're moving in different directions"

_I'm not going to BS my way out of this very easy_ Steve swallows hard wishing he didn't see exactly that.

"Let go if you're OK" She challenges.

Orienting himself one last time Steve carefully lets loose of the rail. "See, I'm fine." He grins triumphantly. 

Ceding him this tiny victory she smiles back. _He's tough allright_ She thinks._This one's not going to crack easily. But I like a challenge._ "Hey Commander." She asks casually. Weren't you in Korea?"

"In and out. Mostly in. Why?" He asks curiously. 

" Oh just curious." She replies then remembered some of the Korean phrases he'd yelled while he was disoriented. "One of the lucky guests of Kim Il Sung? "

Steve blinks several times as a couple of images from Lang Bak enter his mind then forcing the memory back down he answers "For 3 months...till I escaped. Just where are you headed with this?"

Recrossing her arms she steps back slightly. _Too many defenses built up there _ "Ever make it to a place called the Jade Dragon?"

"In Inchon? Sure. Everybody was in that place at one time or another." A couple of pleasant memories of the nightclub creep up to his conciousness. "Lousy band......and the food was worse..fights every night..." 

Seeing him preoccupied with the thoughts she steps towards him quickly. The sudden movement totally disorients him as he falls backwards onto the bed. Seeing his head about to whack the opposite rail she quickly slides the pillow over and leaning down next to his ear she yells "Gotcha!" victoriously knowing that the word would eho in his head many times. "That is why you can't skip these" She instructs as she pulls a syringe out of her pocket. Ordering him to roll over she jabs him forcefully with the scopalamine causing him to jump, further disorienting himself. She waits a few minutes until the patient has regained a moderate concept of reality then continues the lecture.. "Thats it.OK." She reassures. "Now then I'm not going to ask about the sunburn on your back. I think you'll look far better bronze. Nor am I going to inquire about the 'bruise' on your collarbone.The soy sauce on your shirt and the Cherry passion, I believe is the shade, of lipstick on the neckline. And those claw marks on your backside I don't even want to know how that happened. And unless I'm wrong that's 'Jasmine Night' perfume." "Its not the scent for a Congressional Star winner. Trust me." She teases. "And....if this is one of yours Commander." She pulls a long brown hair off his shirt. "Then you're about 20 inches past regulation hair length." 

Swallowing hard he looks up at her. "What was all that about Korea??"

"Commander." She laughs "You were so determined to prove me wrong that you were concentrating on staying upright. I just distracted you for a few seconds and, Boom!, You lost all orientation"

Gritting his teeth and hoping not to throw up Steve whispers "You missed your calling Lieutenant....you should have been in intelligence"

"Who says I'm not" She winks "Look Commander missing an antibiotic at this point isn't going to harm you that much. And I'm sure whomever she was, was keeping your mind off the pain in your arm. But you can't skip the scopalamine yet or you'll be right back where you were,throwing up every 20 minutes. Get the picture?" She reminds sitting on the bed next to him. "Considering" She says affectionately. "I'm the one who admitted you..and the shape you were in, I'm happy you've got the energy to pull a stunt like this .But.you're not half as well as you think you are." Standing up she slaps him playfully on the butt taking care to hit the spot where she had jabbed earlier. "So behave and eventually you'll be allright. And keep your hands off my nurses. Good night Commander." Pausing in the doorway she turns back and smiles "Oh, by the way I loved the bulgogi and sticky rice there but you're right about the band."   
  
Go to part 5   
  
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	5. Chapter 5

  
  
ExChinese Airpilot Dak San Hee is living in a secure suite at 'The Farm' outside of Quantico Viginia while being further debriefed. Copies of the missile site photographs have been distributed to various NATO commands. Things are going quite well for the Pentagon command staff which has now focused all of its attention on the remaining prize,a MIG-21 which is currently residing in an unused hanger at Pearl Harbor. Record snowfalls blanketing the East Coast have brought numerous bureaucrats to Hawaii and record numbers of headaches for Lt.sg Franklin Delbert Evershall. He has been spending upwards of 10 hours a day working on the aircraft and 3 or 4 more briefing sunburned aloha shirted Pentagon staffers. The past several evenings when Frank had finally made it to the hospital Steve was allready asleep and knowing that by now his friend had to be going stir crazy Frank felt guilty about neglecting him in favor of the bureaucrats.   
_Something has to give_ Evershall thought as he enters the hospital parking lot early in the morning. _Before we both go nuts._ Arriving in the room and not seeing his friend Frank immediately thought something had happened and they hadn't notified him yet then regaining control he decided that some therapist had capitalized on Steve's annoying habit of getting up early in the morning which ruined Franks latest plan. Frustrated he turned to leave then saw Steve standing in the corner fighting his way back into his t-shirt, a towel around his neck and wet hair hanging in his eyes. "Hey! You're standing up!" Evershall utters in surprise. 

"Yeah. Couple days now." Steve replies through his teeth as he gets his arm back in the sling then noting Frank's guilty expression decides to twist the knife a little. "You miss the good stuff." 

"Don't start with me OK." Frank cautions. 

"Who is she Frank?" He teases enjoying the growing frustration building in his friend. 

"I wish it was a woman!" Frank answers dropping into his chair. " At least I'd be getting something more than high blood pressure." You know I don't think you're supposed get those wet." Frank reminds pointing to the cast on Steve's arm. 

"STOP ACTING LIKE MY MOTHER!!!" Steve snaps back as the sentence bounces against his ear drums causing him to lean against the wall till the noise stops."They're going to cut it off in xray this morning anyway so what the heck..." He continues quietly slowly letting go of the wall. A cold shiver runs up his spine at the memory of diving into a cargohold full of ocean years before. "I got one alot wetter than this and survived." 

"That's gotta be scary." Frank states at the freightening image in his head."Somebody coming at you with a buzz saw." 

"Not really.Now" He answers sitting on the edge of the bed with his head down, grinning at the memory of his mother holding her 14 year old son down when the doctor came at his leg. _Some football hero I turned out to be. If the team had known about that or worse the girls!. I'm not about to tell Frank that, I'd never hear the end of it._ "Its set to only go so deep. But the noise goes right through me. Allright Frank. Whats going on?" 

"Where?" Evershall asks confusedly. 

"With you." Steve insists. "You look worse than I do. What gives?" 

"You don't want to know. Believe me." Evershall dismisses. 

"Don't make me drag it out of you." Steve encourages. "What ever it is there's got to be a logical solution." 

"DAMN BUREAUCRATS!" Frank yells in frustration. 

"What I thought." Steve replies waiting for his ears to stop ringing."Been up to the Pali yet?" 

"No." 

"I'll bet you haven't put 50 miles on my car. 

"You're probably right." Frank admits reluctantly."They're on my back full force wanting answers about the plane. Hell it takes the factory 3 months to build a fighter jet and I'm supposed to have a foreign job torn down and analysed in a month!" 

"How many of the staffer monkies are there?" 

"You now about them!" Frank asks incredously 

"Sure. Its winter on the mainland. Remember how we used to name off all the warm duty stations back in Annapolis. Same thing only these yoyos are in a position to do something about their freezing tails. Thats the one good thing about all of this; those 'fact finding tours' are somebody elses headache this time,probably Glen's I haven't seen him in a couple days either." 

"If they'd just leave me alone it'd go a hell of alot faster. But when you get one of those dumdums wanting to tell you which wrench to use it takes ten times as long." 

"Frankie." Steve asks exasperatedly. "Just whos project is this?" 

"Its got my name on it." 

"Exactly. That means you're in charge not them. Those people are hemerhoids that have to be dealt with sure, but at your say so not theirs. Starting in February every year Intelligence is under a congressional microscope. Relax. I've dealt with enough of those kind to tell you they're all alike. First off they want to feel important at your expense. Fine let them and they'll go away. The last thing they want to do is spend their fact finding tour actually finding facts. Let me guess:... the lobster red yoyo comes to you three sheets to the wind demanding information, that means he's just heard from his boss and needs to make a report. Now you can deal with the dozen yoyos indivdually or together at a yoyo conference. Which ones easier? They like paper, especially things with numbers and pictures on them. That should be easy enough for you to come up with. Schedule a meeting time every day and stick to it.They'll probably be just as relieved as you. Just don't make it the same time as Happy Hour at the officers club or too early in the morning." 

"That does sound like a plan!" Evershall laughs. 

"I could loan you Lauri if it'd help. She did all the research for my presentation this year. I wonder who got stuck with that..." 

"I don't know." He laughs pulling a paper sack out of his hat. "If my waistline can stand that. She's been baking again." 

"Really?!" He replies excitedly grabbing at the bananna macademia muffins. "Exercise Frank, I've been telling you that for years. If its any consolation I hear some Missile Tech from Cheyanne Mountain's coming by to see me today. I can hardly wait for that. Just what I need." Steve says disgustedly. "A NORAD missile yoyo raking me over the coals." _Heinriche has been making good on his promise to keep the vultures at bay but if I hear 'what kind of warhead was it?' one more time I'm going to go over the edge. _Steve thinks sarcasticly. "DF1's, DF2's...to me one Nodong looks the same as another and they all look just like Pershings." 

"I've met the Yoyo." Frank grins 

"And...." Steve asks anxiously. 

"Got in yesterday afternoon. Wanted to see the MIG. You know.." Evershall muses. "Many people that's come by I should sell tickets. Hell I could retire in a month on $5 a head." 

"What about me??" Steve laughs. 

"Oh I suppose you deserve a little something. A finder's fee maybe. Tell ya what. Since I like you...I'll cut you in for oh...30%" 

"You're all heart." Steve teases throwing the towel at him and missing. "What about the Yoyo?" 

"You might want to dress up a little bit." Evershall answers cryptically. 

"DAMN! Not one of those rulebookers. Rats!" Steve comments not relishing the idea of spending at least a day with the pencil necked geek in his mind. "Wait a minute....do I outrank him???" 

"Hey. Everbody salutes you now buddy. Even Eisenhower." Frank reminds. 

"Huh? Oh ..the Medal thing... I forgot." He states leaning his head down. "And I'm not above using it to get rid of this jerk." 

"Good morning Frank." A tall blonde female Air Force captain whispers quietly as she enters the room. 

"This jerk gets on my back...he can just go salute himself!" Steve retorts. 

"Uh Steve..." Frank responds hesitantly. 

"Captain Marylin Swanson Sir." The blonde steps forwards saluting. "NORAD Missile Yoyo." 

Anxious to avoid the coming confrontation Frank slips quietly out of the room. 

"Oh Lord..." Steve salutes left handed as he lays back against the bed knowing he had just screwed up. _OOPS! How can I get out of this gracefully. Things were much simpler when the military was a mens club. Truman you really are an SOB_ Slowly opening his eyes he looks over the woman standing at attention in front of him_But she looks better in the same uniform than any guy I know..._"OK. Lets get it overwith." He states resolutly. 

Glaring at the 'fine specimen of manhood' in front of her Marylin sets her briefcase on the table. "Very well Sir." She replies acidly and begins to ask a few general questions before a corpsman from radiology interupts them. 

"Very well." She states matter of factly as she shoves the papers back into her briefcase."I'll see you tomorrow Commander." 

"I won't be gone that long." Steve smiles hoping to save at least the professional part of their relationship. 

Staring into the eyes she had heard so much about Marylin finds herself reluctantly smiling back."It snowed 8 inches in Colorado yesterday. This report is going to take me a LONG time to complete." Then remembering how she has to work twice as hard for half the recognition she continues causticlly."And you. You chauvanistic jerk, are going to put up with me till you ralize that a woman is as capable as any man! I've heard alot of stories about you. And quite frankly I don't see what it is all these women are drooling over you for.You are an egotistical selfrightous pompous line jerk. I'll bet you've even got one of those macho call signs like the rest of the hotshot superstud pilots._ But your friend...now there's a man I could fall for. Wait a second there you can be of use to me._

"Excuse me Captain." Steve snaps back as the orderly quickly looks for an escape. "But I don't think I've said anything to warrant all of that. It doesn't matter to me what gender you are I just want to get this experience overwith. In case you hadn't read the report thoroughly I was in the right seat not the left therefore I doubt very much if I qualify as a hotshot superstud pilot. As for my callsign, you don't know me well enough for that. Now then if you want to start over." He smiles slightly at her sticking out his hand. "My name's Commander Steve McGarrett. I prefer Steve but I answer to all three." 

"OK." Marylin replies hesitantly as she switches her briefcase to her right hand."Marylin Swanson." she answers shaking hands. "I don't know about being friends. But I don't need an enemy." 

"Works for me." He replies."Am I going to find you here when I get back?" Steve asks wondering who the drooling women were and just what stories she had heard about him and from whom had she heard them." 

"I don't think so Sir." She says picking up her hat as he leaves the room with the corpsman. "But there is just one question though.If you don't mind." Marylin replies following him out into the hall. Seeing him wave she asks confidently. "What do you know about Frank?" 

"What!" Surprised by the question Steve jerks his head up quickly and passes out as the seaman quickly pulls him back into the chair by the back of the shirt."Wake up Sir." He orders shaking the commander slightly. 

"I'm sorry Commander."Marylin says softly puting her hand on his shoulder."I didn't mean to..." 

"Forget it." Steve answers. I've got a real low sensory overload point right now. I was expecting nodong and got Evershall...heck a difference. What about Frank?" 

"I'm going to ask him out to dinner tonight. I want it to be just right." 

"Don't worry. Frankie's an omnivore. He'll eat anything and the plate it comes on._ Woah! This woman's a live torpedo.She's already launched in Frank's direction I'd better warn him to change course before she acquires a lock on him. Geez! She's enough to blow a guy out of the water for good._

"Good. What does he like? Rock & Roll? I hope you're not going to say Country & Western. Where's a good nightclub??" 

Laughing at the thought of Frank trapped in a club with this woman dragging him across the floor Steve suddenly doubles over forwards as his chest explodes sending tears rolling dwn his face. 

"Commander?"Marylin asks in concern as she bends down in front of him. "Whats wrong?" 

"Please....." Steve replies through clenched teeth. "Breathing hurts bad enough....don't make me laugh....Damn!.." 

"Sir?" The corpsman asks stopping the elevator. 

"I think I just broke 22." He gasps. 

"Its OK Sir." The freckle faced seaman responds pulling him carefully back upright. "We'll find out in a few minutes for certain. I'll get them to put you in first." 

"Whats going on?" Marylin demands as she sees Steve's head fall to one side. 

"Its OK Mam." The orderly replies. "He just passed out again." 

"What do you mean again!?" Marylin demands standing up to her full 5'9''height. 

The young corpsman shrugs his shoulders not really liking the idea of being trapped in a confined space with this woman."He does it a dozen times a day. Give him a minute; he'll come around." 

"MyGod!" She says slowly shaking her head. "I had no idea..." Staring down at him she runs her long fingers through Steve's hair carefully combing it out of his eyes. "What'd he mean by 22?" she asks quietly. 

"I don't know all of it Mam." The seaman responds realizing that he can't escape the hellcat officer."They think he got thrown out of the plane before it crashed and landed on a rock or something. All his ribs are cracked and if he's right then another one just broke. He's determined not to break all of them but one by one..."P"Boy did I read him wrong." Marylin whispers as she leans against the elevator wall 

"Yes Mam you did." The seaman glares at her intensely suddenly not caring what she did to him."Hes the bravest guy I've ever met. And probably the nicest officer on base although I've heard he can rip a GI to ribbons if need be. His friends alot like him I don't think the Commander would have made it without him. 

"Corporal!" The captain shrieks. "He's turning blue!" 

"Come on Sir!" The seaman commands."Wake up. Breathe deeply!" 

"Martins..you breathe deep!" Steve snaps back then finally opens his eyes to see the blonde tornado standing over him asking if he was allright. 

"I guess so." He replies blinking a few times trying to clear the double image of Marylin out of his vision. _God! one of her's bad enough_ Steve thinks as the sharp pain of the edges of his rib grating on each other reminds him nothing is THAT funny. "I don't know about the Air Force but the Naval Academy holds a couple of balls each year. Frank's a nice guy and a hell of an engineer but he can't dance for beans. A basic waltz he might be able to handle but the Twist and Mashed Potato are way out of his league. I've tried to teach him hundreds of times but he just can't get the hang of it. Unless you are planning on wearing combat boots I suggest you avoid anything that will bring you in close proximity with his feet. Hey Martins. What's at the Shell?" 

"Uh...Jazz Festival 22:00" The seaman responds caught by surprise. "Bunch of us went last night.I've never seen nuthin like that before." 

"Like jazz Captain?" Steve asks hoping to get rid of the pest. 

"I was raised in Chicago. Love it." She responds eagerly. 

"Perfect. Frank can find his way to the Shell. There's a nice restaurant at the Ala Wai Yacht Harbor. Its right on the pier you can't miss it." _And it was a great show last year too....Damn Chinese!_ "Martins" He snips taking out a tiny bit of frustraion on the seaman."We going to hang around in the elevator all day?" 

"No Sir!" He responds quickly pushing the button and thinking that the tales of ripped seamen were probably true.  
  
With the new yoyo conference scheduled from 11:00 to 13:00 every day Frank found himself with only 3 or 4 barely awake staff monkies who were more interested in the coffee and jelly doughnuts than listening to him talk about the tensile strength of aluminum alloys and usually left way before 13:00. With Lauri's planning he was able to come up with enough data to compare the various US aicraft components with the Chinese one which she turned into 2 weeks worth of what he was now calling 'happy paper' to be delivered by a seaman every day to the individual's quarters. Having finished the latest spectrometer reports on the wing struts after the last sunburned yoyo left the room at 12:30 Frank decides to pay his friend a surprise afternoon visit to show him how well the new plan was working out. Seeing him laying on the bed staring at the wall with an odd far away look Frank had seen once before when he had accidentally run into him and Glen Anderson in Tokyo shortly after the pair had gotten back from North Korea all the worries he had then came flooding back."Steve? You all right??" He asks hesitantly, hoping that maybe it was just the medication catching up with him. 

"Yeah. I guess so." Steve replies flatly which confirms Franks suspicions. 

"All right what's happening" Frank demands 

"Nothing." Steve replies still looking at the wall."I can't run,TV makes me sick to watch, the stuff I'm drawing left handed..a two year old could do better,I read anything much smaller than the headlines I get a headache. Hell I can barely think straight. And if that snide little jerk downstairs explains rotator cuff physiology to me one more time he's going to get his 90 degrees of abduction in the form of a right cross. Ah hell whats the use." 

_Not this time buddy._ "Snap out of it before they get the shrinks in here after you." 

"Been tried before. If the NKs couldn't do it what makes you think some Sigmund Freud wannabe is going to make me crack?" 

" That does it! I was going to ask if you were up to this, now you don't have a choice in the matter you're getting out of here. Get dressed I can't wait all day." Frank orders. 

Wondering what his friend has in store he slowly gets up and walks into the closet door." 

"Ouch." Frank winces in sympathy. "So you're not OK yet. At least you know where up is." 

"Satisfied?" Steve asks returning in a tan duty uniform. 

"It'll do." Frank replies pinning the valor ribbon on the top of Steve's other decorations. "Don't forget this. I guess the jewelry can wait...you'll have to be a lieutenant commander one more time. You're going to look good with scrambled eggs." He states handing Steve his hat." 

"Yeah." Steve half grins."They'll match my brain." 

As the elevator begins to descend Steve slides down the wall and sits with his head between his knees alarming Frank who threatens to call off the whole thing, take him back and page Dr Hadrian. It takes Steve the entire 4 floor journey to reassure his friend he is fine and everyone is aware he gets dizzy in elevators. 

"Geez I'm sorry." Evershall apologizes as the car stops. "I didn't think about that. And you're gonna have to go back up too. Nuts!" 

"Forget it." Steve replies as Frank pulls him to his feet. "Up doesn't bother me at all. Wierd huh?" He half smiles thinking there has to be something humorous in this situation but he still hadn't found it yet. 

"Uh Steve" Evershall stops abruptly in the doorway as Steve nearly rams into the back of him. "You gonna be OK in the car?" 

"If it kills me." Steve replies confidently thinking a few days ago he and Frank probably would have collided so maybe some balance was finally coming back. Putting on his sunglasses he nudges Evershall through the door. "Where are we going?" 

"No place special. Its only 14:00." He replies wishing that he'd tried to find a closer parking place. "Some of us still have to work you know." Frank teases. 

"Man I didn't think I'd ever see this car again." Steve states excidedly as he polishes a spot on the rear fin. 

"Duck your head." Frank reminds as he settles Steve in the passenger seat."Marylin loves it. Its a great car but you should have waited and bought a 57..bigger fins." 

"Size isn't everything. You better be taking care of it." Steve warns knowing his friends knack for scratching and denting staff cars._ Funny_ Steve mused staring out the widow_ Glen, Kathy, Hennessey last year, dozens of people have driven it; Odd feeling though, riding in your own car..._

Despite Franks reminder about the bright sun Steve insists on putting the top down during the trip. Noting that his friend was looking around excitedly despite the headache he knew had to be raging Evershall impulsively decides to drive around the base, avoiding the housing area lest Steve bolt at the stop sign across the street from his building. 

"OK where are we going?" MCGarrett finally asks when Frank turns into the air wing section. 

"You said you never saw the MIG. Doesn't seem fair..everyone else in the Navy and half the Air Force's been in it. I want you to meet some of the guys who are tearing it down. Its got a whole dfferent navigation setup. I'm having a heck of a time with it. The wing chords totally change the whole aerodynamic flow. All the pilots say its way more maneuverable than anything we've got. If they were chasing you down in these you didn't stand a snowball's chance in Tahiti. We're way behind schedule. At this rate I'm going to be here at least another month." Frank replies pulling into the hanger. Steve carefully gets out of the car and leans against the door surveying the area. 

"Who the hell want's what now." An overweight masterchief states disgustedly as he recognizes Frank's car but not the officer with him. The group of men gathers in the corner, around the complaining chief, waiting to see how the bureaucracy was going to complicate their lives now. 

"You OK?" Frank asks breaking Steve's concentration on the bright red star painted on the tailrudder looming in front of him. 

"Yeah." He replies getting off the car. "Certainly is a big bugger isn't it." 

"51feet 8.5 inches long 13 feet 6.2 inches high. Wingspan 23 feet 5.5 inches" Frank informs as he leads Steve into the building."About average for a twinseater;a B-17 would dwarf it,just looks big in here is all. 

"Any idea what it says?" Frank teases pointing to a sign painted on the bottom of the tailcone 

"Sure. Thats easy.Its on the bottom of all their stuff." Steve quips back. "Made in China." 

The group of sailors watch in confusion as overcontrolled Frank appears to be very relaxed around the mystery officer peering into the arrestor hook port. Halfway around the plane Steve's knees buckle as Frank quickly grabs him and shoves him against the plane. "Holy! The chief exclaims in sudden revalation as he turns to the group."The boss's friend....That's the guy who.....ATTENTION ON DECK!" He orders as the men line up by rank. 

Distracted by the noise Steve looks up as the group of men salute. "What the hell...?" 

"Don't look at me." Frank replies. "I didn't plan it. You're a hero pal...get used to it." 

"Not really. I didn't do anything..." 

"Yeah. You are." Evershall reminds."What you went..are..going through. I could never have done it. Steve you've always been an over the top kind of guy. Just I've known you so long I forget about it most of the time." Carefully grabbing his friends left shoulder Frank continues. " You deserve this. Come on." 

Unconvinced Steve reluctantly returns the salute as Frank introduces his crew. After a couple of hours and fielding quite a few questions about China Steve falls asleep in his chair watching Frank study a graphic printout. 

"Sir. Is he OK?" The freckled young seaman who was intrigued by the Great Wall asks as he stares intently at the unconcious commander. 

"Yeah. He's fine." Frank replies glancing up from the strip of paper."He's only awake a few hours at a time still. I might have overworked him a bit today. But it'll be worth it. I've known Steve 15 years,he'll be OK. Getting him to realize it. That is going to be the hard part." 

"Hey LT. We're ready to rev the engine." The graying masterchief yells tossing his screwdriver into the toolbox. Getting no response, and knowing Evershall's intense concentration, he crosses the hanger towards Franks desk in the corner of the building."LT Are you ready?" He asks briefly shaking him to get his attention. Looking down at the sleeping guest he asks sympthetically. "What's the noise going to do to him?" 

Looking up at the moderately overweight man in the grease covered fatigues Frank suddenly realized that the chief was asking permission to use the jets own power instead of the relatively quiet generator currently in operation. "Oh God! It'd send him through the roof." Frank shudders at the thought of what, even with earprotectors, the turbine engine would do to his friend. "Tell you what Chief. Why don't we knock off on time today. Call it a holiday or something. If its set up we can start first thing in the morning." 

"That bad huh." The old man shakes his head. 

"Worse. Steve says its like having a dozen hangovers all at the same time during a mariachi festival." Glancing at Steve Frank suddenly laughs. "That gives me an idea. Spread the word to each of our houseguests. Big demonstration at tomorrows yoyo conference. Payback those drunken bozos for all the 'assistance' they've given us." 

"LT. You're an inspiration." The man laughs as he pulls up the belt on his pants. "I'll send the extra earphones for inspection tonight." 

After the group of enlisted men departs Frank shakes his friend awake informing him that it was time to go back. Nodding acknowledgement Steve stands up slowly and walks towards the nose of the aircraft staring intently at the cockpit windows. 

"You OK?" Evershall inquires asssuming that seeing the MIG had opened a floodgate of emotions . 

"Yeah fine." Steve replies quietly."I don't know what I expected. But this is just another airplane." 

" Must have brought back something. All that stuff you were describing." 

"Those kids weren't giving up till I told them something." Steve replies nonchalantly 

"Steve. Come off it. There was too much detail. The grass fields, hell you described the Great Wall down to the moss on the rocks. If that was BS for Seaman Harris's benefit then you should be in Hollywood because I bought the whole act too." 

"No act." Steve replies grinning slyly. "Its an accurate description of the topography. But did I say when I saw it?" 

"No...you didn't....Christ!...that little gray rock next to your football trophy...Steve how the hell many times have you been there!?" 

"One too many." Steve replies indicating end of discussion. 

"Here." Frank picks up Steve's helmet off of a nearby workbench and tosses it to him."You want another souviner?" 

"Good thing I wasn't a wide reciever." Steve laughs nearly fumbling the catch. Staring at the crack runnning across the front and right side of the white plastic helmet he starts to fall backwards as his knees bend, quickly sitting on the nose landing gear, he leans forwards slowly rotating the helmet several times. "My God" He uttters involuntarily. "How in the world did I survive this..."Breathing as deeply as he can in an attempt to calm the sudden explosion of emotions Steve finally looks up and smiles slightly. "No wonder my head's not on straight." 

"Your head was never on straight to begin with." Evershall quips back. "Probably all that stubborn Irish blood in your veins." 

"I think I left most of that somewhere in Red China. Steve replies flatly. Getting off the tire he slowly walks towards the doorway and hanging on to the right wing trailing edge stares up at the cockpit trying to remember what had transpired there. 

"There's still alot of it all over up there. You want to get in? I can pop the canopy if.." 

"Nah." He replies leaning against the side of the airframe."Wouldn't do any good. All I remember is waking up in the frozen mud with my arm on fire. The rest is just a bunch of fuzzy disjointed flashes I've been trying to put together into some semblence of a story." Turning around he leans face down on his left arm against the wing edge every muscle in his body shaking from 3 months of pent up frustration. Slowly coming unglued his breathing becomes slightly irratic as he tries to maintain control over the torrent of emotions flowing through his mind. Blnking back the hot tears starting to flow Steve swallows several times trying to calm the hopeless hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach._ God I can't take this anymore!!_

Looking around the immediate area and seeing no throwable objects Evershall knew McGarretts next stress reducer would be to punch the aircraft._ Probably break his other hand too _Frank thought ruefully."Look Steve." Frank responds quietly, knowing that he and maybe the Lt Hennessey he had met in Tokyo years ago were probably the only ones who could get through to McGarrett. "Either you were damn lucky or you've got a squadron of guardian angels watching over you. And it would take at least that many to follow you around; believe you me, I don't envy them their job. Which ever it was I'm just glad its working out." Carefully putting his arm around Steve's shoulder Evershall continues. "While we were still in Tokyo Doc told me he saw something in your eyes that made him believe you would make it. Steve this is going to take time. You are going to have to learn how to sit still for longer than ten seconds. Thats all there is to it. Time. And the rest of your dumb Irish luck. You OK?" 

"Yeah. I guess.... Its been one hell of a journey home." Steve replies hesitantly as he leans up off the cold metal and turns towards his best friend. "Frank? Thanks..." Carefully holding his ribs and breathing deeply to try and slow his pounding heartbeat back to its usual 60 beats Steve slumps against the plane. 

"For what." Evershall dismisses. 

"For..being here...I" Swallowing hard he continues. "This has been a hell ride...I don't know...if I could have made it if we'd landed in Seoul....." 

"Yeah you would have." Frank acknowledges with renewed confidence then smiles. " Only I wouldn't have a tan and Doc wouldn't be getting writers cramp. Lets go OK, before I have to face the Hatchet Lady." 

"Who?" Steve wonders 

"Nurse Parker. Technically you're MIA again." 

Remembering who he was referring to Steve rolls his eyes back in his head. "Oh Lord. Not again!"  
  
Later that evening,after her final rounds, Nurse Parker quietly enters the room inquiring if Steve was asleep. 

"No." He replies thinking that along with 'this will only sting a little' and the euphamistic 'as well as can be expected', 'are you sleeping' has to be one of the most ludicrous phrases in any hospital. "What are you going to do to me this time?" 

Ignoring the question she calmly sits in the chair beside him."This has been driving me nuts. I know you from someplace." 

"Its a small Navy sometimes." He replies. "Korea maybe?" Then grinning he teases that maybe she was one of his conquests in the Jade Dragon although he usually had better taste in women. 

"I doubt that. She replies punching him playfully."I was involved with someone back then...I reread your medical history. You've got quite a few Purple Hearts. 

"Tell me about it..." He retorts hoping to get her off that subject. 

"You were never in my unit far as I can tell or even the Evac Hospital in Seoul at the same time I was." 

"Where were you after the war?" He inquires wondering what this woman wanted. 

"All over. USS Solace, Guam, Chicago, San Diego then here." 

"I've been to all of those places except Guam. But only on business. I've got a friend in San Diego. Ron Nicholson. I doubt you know him though." 

"Leaning back in the chair she crosses her arms and pulls at her chin in concentration. "No. It has to be Korea. Its wierd. Like I know you, but more by name than anything else....." 

"We know some of the same people then." Steve replies still wondering why she was interested in him. In order to take care of him he knew she had to have a fairly high security clearance _which is why I get the battleaxes instead of the cute young blondes. Who ever said intelligence was a glamour job didn't know a thing about it_ McGarrett thought sarcastically. "Most of my acquaintences are intelligence officers. A few from the USS Excalibur but they are all enlisted men. A couple of guys I was stationed with in Tokyo still talk to me. A couple of scientists. A few guys from the academy. The only doctor I ever had as a friend was killed in Korea, Paul Compton. A Jag lawyer or two..." 

"Oh my God! Paul..." In shock she jumps out of the chair but quickly sits back down as her knees begin to collapse. "You were at the funeral...both of you...I told you I was involved with someone...thats who. Paul and I were lovers." 

"WHAT!" Steve yells as his world suddenly starts spinning again _certainly not this shrew...Paul wasn't that desperate......._ A few seconds later as he returns to conciousness Nurse Parker is droning on oblivious to what had happened. _Geez. Probably got himself killed just to get away from her._Rationalizing the new situation in his mind Steve realized that prior to North Korea he had been more of an open person than he was now. Losing a lover has to be almost as traumatic of an experience._ Who knows what she was like back then_ Steve decided. 

"We were going to try and get stationed together after the truce. He wanted to try for Tokyo because he said a friend of his was going to probably get sent there. I said I didn't care where we ended up as long as it was together. Our orders had just been posted that day. Paul was so happy he started singing that annoying showtune he always whistled......then he got sent up to the front........." She suddenly starts sobbing uncontrollably 

"Hey. You're ruining your image." He teases touching her lightly."I never knew he..was serious about anybody. But yeah a couple of weeks before I had told him I was going to get assigned to Tokyo station. The orders for most us were cut right after Panmoonjohn. I hung around till after Operation Big Switch was over but our official intelligence presence North of the DMZ ended with the treaty. I remember seeing a couple of women at the funeral but I had no idea. Why didn't you say something to one of us?" 

"So many people...I didn't know any of his friends. Its all still a blur really." She explains wiping her eyes."He only had a half sister and a group of guys from the Naval Academy that he was close to." 

"That's Frank and I, you met John Reggis, and Dave Wilson. Listen we have a reunion every year,well you probably know that. Its in Naples this year why don't you come?" 

"I don't know...I'd ..You're the only one who knows...." 

"Thats going to change as soon as I get to a phone. Come on. They'll be glad to know he was happy before....." 

"I've never been to Italy..." She ventures thinking even an emotional experience like this would beat spending the holiday alone. 

"Its nice. Warm like here. The beaches aren't as nice but there are some really quaint places. Come on." He explains then teasingly adds. "I'll sic Frank on you..." 

"That little mouse!...." She chuckles. "I could have him as a snack..." 

"Hey there's more to him than you think!" Steve replies defensively. "What have you got to loose besides a little vacation time? I'll bet you've got it stacked up in the corners." 

"Right next to yours." She adds in rebuttal 

"Touche" Steve grins. 

"OK. What the heck." 

"Good. That's settled."He replies laying back. "You can fly with Frank and I. When I get everything arranged I'll let you know the times. Nuts! John's wedding I almost forgot. This year we have to stop off in Annapolis. Ever been to Maryland?" 

"No. But Paul always talked about it. I..think..I'd like to see where he'd been." 

"OK. We'll leave a couple days early. Honolulu- San Diego- Paux River." 

"You're the travel agent Paul talked about!" 

"Unfortunately" Steve groans. "My clearence gives me opportunity to courier around." He explains. "While I'm at the embassy I can make reservations, get us a boat, find the good restaurants. I hate schlepping documents around the globe. Its a junior officer job but when I need to get someplace for a couple of days..rank hath its privileges."  
  
Two days later Frank returns to the apartment after work and finds Steve sitting on the lanai. "What are you doing here!?" 

Turning around in his chair Steve smiles broadly. "I live here remember." 

"I saw the staff car outside but...I thought the captain next door was going have another late night Wagner fest." 

"Chief Morgan dropped it off. You can keep the T-Bird for a while....its safer with you driving it than me." 

"How did...You aren't MIA again?" Evershall continues the interrogation. 

"Hey. I just got 1A'd." He responds dejectedly."Aren't you even gonna say welcome home?" 

"Yeah sure." Frank answers confusedly. "Welcome home. Kathy know about this??" 

"Far as I got." Steve replies gesturing to the deck. 

"How...You're not that OK." 

"Well thanks a whole lot buddy. According to the orders I go back to work tomorrow morning." 

"What! That's ridiculous." Evershall states heading back inside. "Got to be a mistake. I'm going to call Doc. He'll get this straightened out." 

"Don't." Steve asks. "I just got an hour long lecture from him on dizziness double vision and what he thinks of the intelligence service. I don't want another one, Ok?" 

"Its not about you Steve." Frank reassures as he sits in the other deck chair."He can't stand your boss. You missed the fight, Doc judoed him." Frank laughs 

"You're kidding!" Steve starts to laugh then holding his ribcage bites his tongue. "Please...don't make me laugh. Did he get him down??" 

"Oh yeah." Frank answers with delight at the memory. "He fell right on top of you,pulling one of the needles out of your feet. Knocked all his maps on the floor. IV fluid was dripping all over the place. His lip was bleeding. Doc had such a fire in his eyes. Too bad I didn't have a camera,it was a moment to remember. I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing." 

"Oh boy, I bet I'll hear about that." Steve groans. "What started it.?" 

"He grabbed ahold of Doc but it had been building since practically day one. You ever hear of something called pentathiol?" 

"Sodium Pentathol?" Steve asks insurprise. "Frank thats an eye-only thing,big time, where'd you hear about that?" 

Leaning back in the chair Evershall rolls his head to one side and his eyes back in his head. "Oh good Lord! Here we go with natonal security again! Steve its a drug not a damned state secret. Appearently he was giving it to you and it wasn't working." 

"I'll bet it wasn't." Steve nods his head carefully. "Maybe if he used the whole bottle or something." 

"Steve its a drug just like penicillin. Not some kind of Flash Gordon wonder weapon. Any pharmacy can get it." Evershall continues to press. 

"But it has other uses." Steve replies scooting up in the chair."Believe me on this, you're better off not knowing. What happened with Heinriche?" 

"According to Doc Heinriche was in the room when you first started seizing and didn't say a word about it not working. He found out a few mnutes later what was going on from Glen Anderson. I honestly thought Doc was going to tear the old man's head off." 

"Well Hinney always one for the book." Steve rationalizes. "Damn, I hope he doesn't find out Glen said something. He'll have him up on charges. What's up with you and Marylin?" Steve asks changing the subject. "She's been coming by every day and asking me one question about the missiles and ten about you. At this rate the nodongs'll rust away before she ever finishes that report." 

"I like her." Frank admits. "She's funny and smart." 

"Really?" Steve asks enjoying the intrrogation."Is there something to this or just a wild night in the backseat of my car." 

"Steve!" Frank defends." I don't know yet. I think maybe. Its nothing like you and Kathy though." Evershall states. "If you let her get away you're an idiot." 

"I know. Its getting serious." Steve agrees. 

"I don't believe my ears!" Frank stares in surprise. "Steve McGarrett the Navy's most desireable bachelor. The Korean Tiger's been caged!" 

"Pretty close too it anyhow." Steve admits as he scoots down in the chair. "You might have to come back here and be best man." 

"WHAT! Are we talking wedding?!" Frank exclaims in amazement. 

"I don't know, maybe. Keep your dress whites pressed just in case." 

"WOW!" Frank shakes his head in disbelief."I never thought I'd live long enough to hear this." 

"I wasn't sure I'd live period. I tell you it scares the hell out of me. I'd rather deal with the entire Soviet Bloc any day than this" Steve replies very subdued as he stares at the sunset."If I'm supposed to be happy then how come every time I think about it I break out in a cold sweat?" 

"I don't know. But all the married guys say the same thing. More importantly right now, what are we going to do about your orders?" 

"They came through the Pentagon. What am I supposed to do, buck the Navy? You've been around long enough to know how that goes." 

"Steve. You can't..." Frank insists 

"Why not. I'm OK." Steve replies confidently. 

"Sure you are. Sitting here. You move around too much and you'll pass out. This is ridiculous. Somebody has to be behind this.." 

Actually I'm looking forward to it. If I sit around much longer I'm going to go nuts."  
  
**_continued in "One Of Our Own?"_**


End file.
